ADB, GEAPP, MAS unite for blended finance partnership driving Asia's energy transition

December 08, 2023 (MLN): The Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have announced their intent to establish a blended finance partnership to accelerate the energy transition at scale in Asia, said the latest press release by ADB.

Economic growth, demographic expansion, and increased urbanization have increased the demand for energy in Asia.

To reduce emissions while achieving its development goals, Asia needs to accelerate and scale up innovative financing solutions for its energy transition.

ADB, GEAPP, and MAS have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to set up an energy transition acceleration finance partnership to mobilize concessional capital from the philanthropic and public sectors, de-risk projects, and crowd-in private capital from around the globe to finance energy transition projects in Asia.

Such projects include the early phaseout of coal assets to be replaced with renewable energy, and decarbonization projects in hard-to-abate sectors. The MOU was signed at COP28.

Through the collaboration, the partners will develop a pipeline of opportunities, and deploy innovative and scalable financing structures to drive decarbonization in Asia.

The partnership will also explore using high-integrity transition carbon credits to improve the commercial viability and sustainability of retiring and replacing coal assets with renewable energy, and facilitate the mainstreaming of such transactions.

The transactions will reference global best practice standards, including the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) APAC guidelines, Singapore–Asia Taxonomy, and ASEAN taxonomy.

The partnership aims to raise $2bn in concessional and commercial capital from other like-minded partners.

ADB will provide origination, transaction and technical support through its presence and network in countries across the region.

The partnership will benefit from ADB’s broader Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) initiative including policy support for a just energy transition, contributions from the governments of Japan, Germany, and other countries under the ETM Partnership Trust Fund, and a pipeline of investable projects.

GEAPP will contribute philanthropic capital, its experience in the energy transition, and a coalition of committed partners.

MAS will mobilize key stakeholders in Singapore’s financing ecosystem, including infrastructure finance platforms such as Clifford Capital.

MAS will also enable policy support for the collaboration, including through its transition planning guidance to financial institutions, transition-focused taxonomy, and work in developing high-integrity transition carbon credits via the Transition Credits Coalition (TRACTION).

All three partners intend to mobilize and contribute catalytic capital to crowd in other concessional and commercial capital providers and like-minded partners.

“Time is running out to make a meaningful impact on climate change, and it is clear that not enough is being done to curtail the most polluting sources of greenhouse gas emissions,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.

“This financing partnership with MAS and GEAPP—two leading, like-minded partners—is a significant step towards attracting the requisite capital to phase out coal assets more quickly and replacing these with cleaner energy. This partnership forms a critical alliance in our region’s battle against climate change,” he added.

"GEAPP, as a robust alliance with access to catalytic capital, is in a unique risk-tolerant position to enable allocation of funds and resources towards climate solutions,” said GEAPP Asia Vice-President Kitty Bu.

“Blended finance and carbon credits are key success factors for an effective and just energy transition in Asia,” said MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon.

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