Ravi Menon, Singapore’s ambassador for climate action, has urged countries to press ahead with the green transition — not out of convenience, but necessity.
Speaking at the British Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Dialogue on Sept 9, the former managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) warned that backsliding on climate commitments will only result in “a disorderly transition” as the costs of inaction mount.
“The news coming out of the US has not been good for the planet,” Menon says, pointing to federal rollbacks on renewable energy and rhetoric undermining climate science that has fostered “a mood of green hushing” among businesses.
Yet, he adds: “nature is more powerful than politics or economics — and will eventually prevail.”
While it is already too late to stop climate change, Menon argues it is not too late to avert its worst consequences. He says: “We are heading towards a world that is both carbon-constrained and climate-impaired.” He adds: “For those countries and companies which have delayed climate action, it will be a disorderly transition.”
Staying the course
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Menon highlights that Singapore and the United Kingdom are among just 13 countries to have submitted national emissions reduction targets for 2035 under the United Nation’s (UN) climate framework. Both nations, he says, are staying the course to remain competitive in a low-carbon economy while ensuring resilience against climate risks.
The UK-Singapore Green Economy Framework, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between both countries back in 2023 is one such example. It focuses on the areas of green transport, low carbon energy and technologies, and carbon markets and sustainable finance. In this, the framework supports joint government, academic and business activities such as information exchange, co-innovation, and capability development for small-and medium enterprises (SME), to accelerate green growth and create new jobs.
Blended finance and climate technology, Menon notes, are areas where Singapore has been making some progress.
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He says: “They are also areas where we have growing collaboration with the UK -– not just to green our own economies but to also facilitate transition outside our borders, especially in Asia.”
Nowhere is climate action more urgent than Asia, notes Menon, which accounts for half of global emissions and is expected to contribute 90% of future energy demand growth. “Without decarbonising Asia, the world will not reach net zero,” he says.
To close Asia’s US$800 billion ($1.02 trillion) annual climate financing gap, he points to blended finance as a key enabler. By combining capital from governments and philanthropies with private investment, blended finance can crowd in multiples of commercial funding for climate projects.
Singapore’s flagship initiative, the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (Fast-P) with its target fund size of US$5 billion, has already notched a milestone. Its Green Investment Partnership (GIP) secured a first close of US$510 million, catalysed by just US$51 million of Singapore government capital. “With US$51 million, the Singapore government has crowded into a pool of capital 10 times larger to facilitate Asia’s green transition,” says Menon.
Under the Fast-P, MAS has set up three programmes: the Energy Transition Acceleration Finance (ETAF), aimed at phasing out the use of coal with renewable energy, battery storage and grid infrastructure; the GIP, to invest in renewable energy and storage, electrification of transport as well as water and waste management projects; and the Industrial Transformation Programme (ITP), to help companies in hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and steel to decarbonise and to support technology solutions for decarbonisation.
MAS has appointed asset manager Clifford Capital for the ETAF, Pentagreen for the GIP and BlackRock for the ITP.
“We stepped up engagements with a wide range of governments, multilateral organisations, philanthropies, banks and asset managers to solicit concessional and commercial capital for FAST-P,” says Menon.
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The GIP’s first close, he notes, marks several key outcomes for Fast-P.
“First, it is halfway through GIP’s target fund size of US$1 billion. Second, it has been made possible by a diverse group of global and regional investors. Third, the US$51 million of concessional capital committed by the Singapore government to GIP has been matched by an equal amount of concessional capital - from governments, philanthropies, and even commercial players,” explains the ambassador.
Lastly, the base of the combined US$102 million from the government and other capital has in turn attracted US$408 million of commercial capital, achieving the target four-to-one ratio of commercial to concessional capital, he adds.
In this, the UK has been a strong supporter, with the British International Investment and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) contributing nearly US$74 million to GIP, alongside a pledge of up to US$95 million for Fast-P. Projects in the pipeline include bio-energy programmes and renewable energy portfolios expected to cut hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions annually.
Driving low-carbon tech
Menon also underscores the need to accelerate low-carbon technologies, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement, aviation, shipping, and chemicals — which together account for 40% of global emissions.
Singapore is piloting low-carbon fuels like ammonia and methanol for maritime use, with new bunkering guidelines in development. Through a joint taskforce, the UK and Singapore are also driving maritime decarbonisation, with Imperial College London collaborating with Singapore’s Maritime Port Authority.
Meanwhile, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is being explored to cut industrial emissions. Singapore is pursuing cross-border storage partnerships with Indonesia and Malaysia, while Sembcorp Industries is partnering the UK’s Zero Degrees Whitetail to build one of Britain’s first net-zero power stations.
“It is expected to produce about 300 megawatts of clean, efficient, low-cost electricity, with potential expansion options in the future,” says Menon.
In the coming months, the GIP will also start deploying its funds for green and sustainable infrastructure projects in Asia.
The first is a bio-energy programme which replaces fossil fuels with agri-waste feedstock, reducing more than 100,000 tonnes of emissions each year and the second is a renewables portfolio comprising solar, hybrid solar, and battery storage projects, reducing 250,000 tonnes of emissions annually.
Despite this, Menon says that making blended finance work is “not a walk in the park”. Already the GIP had to overcome several challenges in its first close.
Firstly, he says that commercial and concessional capital providers have different objectives, with the former preferring adequate risk-adjusted returns and the latter wanting to maximise the amount of commercial capital they can “crowd in” and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they can reduce.
He continues: “Second, the different risk appetites of commercial and concessional capital providers. Commercial investors prefer bankable projects with acceptable risks. Concessional capital providers are willing to bear risk but will do so only for projects that would otherwise not be financed by private capital. Third, the various stakeholders have different investment approaches, governance structures, and legal processes.”
Despite political headwinds, Menon stresses that genuine progress is being made. “Amid a general gloom pervading the climate agenda, there are many bright lights of hope and progress,” he said. Both Singapore and the UK, he added, are demonstrating how partnerships can scale climate action far beyond national borders.
“For it is not enough that the UK and Singapore achieve net zero. The world must do so too. There is a lot more that our two countries can, and must do, together.”
