IFR Asia is pleased to present an in-person Roundtable to discuss the main themes in the region’s fast-growing ESG financing market. The event will be held in front of an invited audience at the LSEG auditorium located at #28-01 North Tower, One Raffles Quay in Singapore.
Moderated by IFR Asia’s Editor Daniel Stanton, the panel – made up of corporate issuers, investors, analysts and bankers will discuss the following topics:
- Environmental, social and governance considerations are now part of mainstream financing, but Asia is a complex marketplace due to the variations between countries
- China has got rid of “clean coal” from its list of eligible ESG investments, but there remain areas where Asian countries may apply different standards, increasing the work foreign investors need to do. There are solutions: a common ground framework comparing Chinese standards with the European Union’s green taxonomy has helped foreign investors to gain comfort. Meanwhile, work continues on taxonomies tailored for the region
- With green, social and sustainable flavours debt available, issuers can pick the variety most suited to their projects. More specific sub-categories have emerged, with blue and carbon neutrality bonds gaining in popularity, showing the importance of labelling that highlights issuers’ ESG goals.
- Carbon-intensive industries don’t need to be left out of ESG financing, either, as a range of sustainability-linked instruments are helping them to fund their transitions.
- Issuers and investors continue to debate whether ESG instruments should earn a greenium, or whether market access is a reward in itself, as companies without an ESG strategy find their funding channels shrink.
- Meanwhile, greenwashing remains a concern for investors, who want to see issuers set meaningful targets and ensure that sustainability is a part of corporate strategy, not just a marketing exercise.
The timings are as follows:
14:30 – Registration
15:00 – Roundtable discussion
16:15 – Coffee and networking
17:00 – Close
The event is free to attend but you must be registered – and you can do so by completing the short form on this page.
Confirmed speakers:
- Estelito C. Biacora – Executive Director, Group Treasurer, Ayala Corporation
- Alvin Yeo – Head of Sustainable Finance, Leveraged and Debt Capital Markets, Asia, UBS
- Sukjoon Jeffrey Lee – Vice President, Sustainable Finance and Regional Manager, Second Party Opinion, APAC, Moody’s
- Nicole Lim – Investment Analyst: ESG, Fixed Income, abrdn
- Daniel Stanton – Editor, IFR Asia (moderator)
Event info
Title: The IFR Asia ESG Roundtable
Date: Tuesday 13th June
Time: 2:30pm – 5pm SGT
Format: In-person event