Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s de facto central bank, says technologies such as blockchain will help Asian nations to reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming.
Fast Facts:
- “Finance is key to unlocking a sustainable future. It can support the transition to a less carbon-intensive economy and channel capital to green technologies and infrastructure,” Menon said at the launch of the inaugural MAS sustainability report.
- “The lack of access to trusted high-quality data on a project’s carbon emissions is probably the biggest impediment to green finance,” he said. “Acquiring and verifying such data is currently manual, slow, and prone to greenwashing. Technologies like blockchains can help to verify and share data on a trusted basis.”
- The MAS is setting aside S$50 million (US$38 million) to support green fintech innovation, and has launched an initiative named Project Greenprint to “identify use cases where technology can help to mobilize capital for green projects, monitor commitments to emissions reductions, and quantify the impact of abatement efforts.”
- The finance industry is stepping up. Last month, Singapore’s DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank and state-owned investment firm Temasek announced that they were partnering to develop Climate Impact X, a carbon exchange and marketplace, to provide companies with high-quality carbon credits. Climate Impact X will use satellite monitoring, machine learning and blockchain technology to enhance the transparency, integrity and quality of carbon credits, a statement said.
See related article: How blockchain can power the growth of green finance
