A green finance taskforce convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a raft of initiatives for financial institutions to enhance climate-related disclosures and strengthen green capabilities.
They include an implementation guide for climate-related disclosures; a framework to help banks assess eligible green trade finance transactions; and a white paper on scaling green finance in the real estate, infrastructure, fund management and transition sectors.
MAS said the initiatives «will enable financial institutions to effectively develop green solutions and align their portfolios towards facilitating Asia’s transition to a low carbon economy.»
Earlier today, UOB announced that it extended its first green trade finance facilities under the framework.
Training Programs
The taskforce will also launch a series of workshops and e-learning modules from May 2021 to April 2022 for financial institutions and corporates. These programs aim to strengthen the capabilities of banks, insurers and asset managers in environmental risk management, enhance their environment-related disclosures, deepen knowledge of green finance instruments, and enable FIs and corporates to customise green financing solutions for transition sectors, MAS said.
«These initiatives will also contribute to global efforts to achieve greater consistency and comparability in climate-related disclosures, as well as provide investors and market participants with the necessary information for climate risk analysis and investment decision-making,» Gillian Tan, Assistant Managing Director (Development and International), MAS, said in the announcement.
