EuroCham News
for public dissemination on web and other platforms
28 October 2020
EuroCham Singapore releases Position Paper on Green Finance
The European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (EuroCham) launched a position paper on Green Finance, a key area of EU-Singapore collaboration. The position paper is the first of a series of four statements compiled as part of the Chamber’s ongoing European Excellence in Sustainability Programme. It will also be published in the forthcoming EuroCham Sustainability Whitebook 2020, to be released on 17 November 2020.
The Green Finance position paper discusses the landscape of green finance in Singapore as well as its opportunities and challenges, with European policy-making and business approaches as a point of reference. It was drafted by the Financial Services Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce (FSCECCS) with Accenture as its strategic partner.
The paper aims to create an understanding and awareness of the sector to facilitate an open and constructive dialogue with the green finance ecosystem in Singapore. To this end, it includes research and interviews of experts from key EuroCham members and Singaporean stakeholders, including Banks, Insurance companies and Government entities including the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Based on these enquiries, the position paper identifies three key challenges to the growth of Green Finance in Singapore: namely, greenwashing, data, benchmarking & verification, and misalignment between supply & demand. To this end, it recommends a series of measures relating to convergence of Green Finance standards, improving ESG Ratings practices, building a Green Finance talent pool in Singapore, and leveraging technology. With these, the position paper envisions further and better collaboration within the area of Green Finance in Singapore.
This is the first of four position papers on Circular Economy, Green Finance, Smart Mobility, Clean and Efficient Energy to be released by EuroCham. These position papers will be disseminated with a view to facilitating dialogue between European companies and Singaporean authorities and regulators. They are accessible at EuroCham’s website: Green Finance Position Paper 2020
About EuroCham
EuroCham is an independent non-profit organisation governed by members, representing the common interest of the European business community in promoting bilateral trade, services and investments between Europe and Singapore and the region.
EuroCham represents the voice of the European business community in Singapore. We provide our members with a forum for advocacy, networking and information sharing within the European and Singaporean business communities and governmental circles.
About the European Excellence in Sustainability Programme
In 2020, the European Chamber of Commerce (Singapore) embraced the topic of Sustainability as its main focus of activities for the year. The ‘European Excellence in Sustainability’ programme focuses on the sustainability strategic areas common to the European Union (EU) Commission’s European Green Deal and Singapore’s Sustainability Concept Plan.
The programme covers the five areas of:
- – Circular Economy
- – Smart Mobility
- – Clean & Efficient Energy
- – Sustainable Food & Nutrition
- – Green Finance
It has been executed as a series of activities including sharing sessions, the publication of the EuroCham Sustainability Whitebook 2020 and finally, the EuroCham Sustainability Awards 2020. Each of these activities is intended to highlight sustainability best practices, challenges, and opportunities in Singapore, and they have been very warmly welcomed by the European Commission, the Singapore government and other key stakeholders.
