In Asia, finance may be the most effective weapon in the climate fight

The central business district of Beijing, China. Image: This is a critical year for climate. All eyes will be on how signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change are delivering on their commitments at the national, regional, and institutional levels. But while the European Union is rallying its “green deal” and the US presidential election in November will determine its exit or stay in the accord, questions remain over Asia’s commitment. The war on climate change must be fought on multiple fronts. In Asia, finance may be the most effective weapon. Following in the footsteps of the European and US markets, green finance across Asia has taken off in the last five years. While Asia is too big and too complicated to be generalised, we think the evolution of sustainable finance across the region has a common success factor – regulation. Regulators have made strong inroads in addressing market failures such as environmental externalities and information asymmetry. Capital flows have responded in kind. Pricing carbon China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, responsible for 27 per cent of global greenhouse gases. China’s nationwide Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) aims to cover 8 billion tonnes of carbon […]

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