BDO, Top Asian Banks Publish New Report on Climate Initiatives
September 25, 2023
BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO), along with leading Asian banks,has released the Asia Transition Finance Annual Report 2023 to help Asian economies achieve a “just and orderly transition” toward a more sustainable future.
BDO is a member of The Asian Transition Finance (ATF) Study Group, a private-led initiative whose core participants are banks with operations in Asia. The ATF Study Group was set up in recognition of the important role that transition finance (TF) will play in helping Asian economies address challenges as they move toward net-zero emissions. Its goal is to create practical recommendations to supplement existing frameworks, including global standards and taxonomies, when financial institutions (FIs) consider and assess TF cases, as well as to understand challenges and explore potential enablers to transition finance.
In 2022, the ATF Study Group published the ATF Guidelines to provide transition finance practitioners with a practical guide to assess transition projects. The Study Group simultaneously published the ATF SG Activity Report to share the challenges and suggested support measures to accelerate transition finance in Asia. These outcomes were introduced at Asian Green Growth Partnership Ministerial Meetings (AGGPM) on September 2022.
This year, the ATF SG Annual Report 2023 was created after months of discussion among the core members, composed primarily of commercial banks. Development banks, export credit agencies, public agencies, finance associations, and SPOs joined as observers and knowledge contributors. Energy and industry players also participated as guest speakers to share their perspectives.
The ATF Annual Report 2023 describes certain advancements in the seven support measures suggested in the ATF Annual Report 2022 since its release last year. This year’s Study Group mentions more granular enablers needed to accelerate transition finance. The Study Group considers that making progress in these would merit a coherent collaboration among all stakeholders, especially public authorities, TF receivers, and FIs.
As a founding core member of the ATF Study Group since 2021, BDO believes that its sustainability journey, along with other Asian financial institutions, will be more gradual in pace compared to counterpart banks in Europe and the United States. But in collaborating with others, the Bank welcomes the opportunity to bring everyone towards the same direction and better manage the energy transition for Asian nations.
BDO will continue to expand its Sustainable Finance initiatives, in place since 2010, towards funding new and existing renewable energy projects to increase their capacity, and support the country’s avoidance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Study Group will continue with more focus on collaboration with public authorities and TF receivers to deliver FI’s views on enablers that supported by experiences as TF practitioners, as well as on peer learnings to bring deeper understanding and practical knowledge about various transition finance guidelines, countries’ policies including national taxonomies, and the development of TFFs by FIs.
