Chia Der Jiun: Financing Asia's transition – bridging global ambition to regional action and impact

Opening remarks by Mr Chia Der Jiun, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Financing Asia's Transition (FAST) Conference, Singapore, 17 April 2024.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and welcome to the second edition of the Financing Asia's Transition (FAST) Conference 2024.

Each year, MAS, together with Temasek and BlackRock, seeks to convene key financial, industry and thought leaders in sustainability to focus on Asia. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for half of global emissions, and even excluding China, it accounts for 19% of emissions. This share will grow in the coming years. It will be in Asia where global actions in climate mitigation will ultimately succeed or fail.

More Collective Action Needed Amidst Challenges

At COP28 last year, we saw noteworthy achievements including the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund, the mobilisation of over USD 83 billion for climate action, and the conclusion of the first Global Stocktake.

Whilst there has been continued global commitment to collective action, more momentum is needed. National climate action plans remain insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or even to below 2 degrees Celsius.

International collective action, difficult even in the best of times, will be needed in greater measure, but yet it faces growing challenges.