【COP29 Side-Event】Financing Just Transition: Accelerating Carbon Neutrality in Asia
Day：2024.12.16
event ｜
Person in charge
| identity | belong to | title |
|---|---|---|
| Ryosuke Takahashi | Operations Strategy Department | Assistant Director |
Overview
Date: 11/15/2024
Host:JICA
Location（pavilion name）：IDFC Pavilion
Speaker
| identity | belong to | title |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Megumi MUTO | JICA | Special Advisor to JICA President |
| Mr. Satoshi Ikeda | Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) | Chief Sustainable Finance Officer |
| Mr. Masayuki Takanashi | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | Group CSuO |
| Mr. Christian Déséglise | HSBC | Group Head of Sustainable Infrastructure and Innovation |
| Mr. Hervé BRETON | Agence Française de Développement (AFD) | Senior Climate Finance specialist |
| Mr. Pradana Murti | PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (PT SMI) | Director of Risk Management |
Primary objectives and outcomes
- The session aims to foster discussions on financing mechanisms to facilitate a just transition towards carbon neutrality, primarily in Asia. We will explore The concept and importance of a just transition, The current state and challenges of decarbonization in Asia, financing needs and opportunities, and case studies.
- In this context, financing not only climate solution but also high-emitting sectors / Hard-to-Abate sectors is important in order to accelerate whole society decarbonization.
- Engagement with clients is also critical. Given The fast-growing economy in Asia, this discussion is crucial for The common goal of achieving The net-zero.
Content of the discussions
- At the opening, JICA's Special Advisor to the President,Dr. Muto, introduced that Asia emits more than half of the global greenhouse gases and mentioned that managed phase-out is not necessarily easy. At the same time, she opened the event by stating that there are various movements, such as the Singaporean government's Financing Asia's Transition Partnership (FAST-P), and that collaboration between public and private stakeholders is important.
- In the keynote speech, Mr. Ikeda, Chief Sustainable Finance Officer of Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA), introduced the JFSA's efforts and challenges in promoting transition finance, including the Asia Green Transformation (GX) Consortium which JICA is also joining.
- In the panel discussion, Mr. Murti of PT SMI introduced the difficulties of decarbonizing the hard-to-abate sectors. He also mentioned the need to mobilize private capital to increase renewable energy based on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and to spread of taxonomy in Indonesia. Based on the experiences of SDG Indonesia One, ETM Country Platform, and geothermal power generation projects, he also pointed out that a commitment of funds alone is not enough, and that it is necessary to keep an eye on the project until it is realized.
- Mr. Déséglise of HSBC also introduced the three pillars based on the company's transition plan toward net zero, and said that efforts toward net zero can be also an opportunity. He said that finance is only one of the solutions to decarbonization, and that other efforts such as formulation of policies are necessary. He also shared the initiatives and lessons learned from HSBC's innovative finance experience, such as Pentagreen and FAST-Infra.
- Mr. Breton of AFD said that it is important for development institutions to not only align their own finance flows with the Paris Agreement, but also to work to align the finance flows in developing countries at a system level. He also introduced policy support such as the formulation of long-term strategies. He pointed out that such perspectives are important when AFD actually formulates development policy loans and other projects.
- Mr. Takanashi, Group CSuO, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, introduced the Transition Finance Playbook and its Scorebook. He shared the experiences since publication of those. He also introduced the current situation in Asia, examples of investment in a hydrogen fund, and the importance of bringing investors in Asia. He also mentioned that a working group has been established to discuss just transition.
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