12th October 2020

Green Financing: Driving Change in Indonesia: TCE’s Sustainable Finance Week kicks off with an interactive panel session on Indonesia’s experience in green finance products. Financial strategists and experts discuss the financing models available in the market, and how financial institutions can develop green financing solutions that address key sustainability issues. In her welcoming note, Fransiska Oei, Compliance, Corporate Affairs & Legal Director, CIMB Niaga, points out that though Indonesia is one of the largest economies in South East Asia, its growth is delivered at great environmental expense. Fransiska urges financial institutions to deliver a more effective financing model that creates meaningful impact. Rizkiasari Yudawinata, Sustainable Finance Programme Lead, WWF-Indonesia, shares the key aspects of green and related products that financers and other stakeholders must understand. Financial institutions need to further develop incentive mechanisms that deliver impact at scale while generating attractive financial returns. Bangkit Oetomo, Investment Associate, Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF), provides insights into financing programmes that catalyse sustainable investments in Indonesia. Focusing on the financing of renewable energy, Bangkit discusses various challenges, project characteristics, domestic financing products and financial opportunities to mobilise innovative products. Nicholas Gandolfo, Director, Sustainable Finance Solutions, APAC, Sustainalytics, speaks on the importance of measurable impact reporting. He delivers practical tips for the reporting journey, from the materiality assessment process to the global frameworks available. Mohammad Ghozie Indra Dalel, Director, PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) ends the session with details on SDG Indonesia One, the Government’s blended finance platform that channels public and private funds into sustainable development projects. He provides multiple examples of how SMI manages extensive funds through grants, technical assistance and capacity-building to accelerate national SDG deliverables. 

13th October 2020

Sustainable Urbanisation: Financing Responsible Development

An overwhelming majority of the population lives in cities and towns. While urbanisation has resulted in great progress and prosperity, it has been at the expense of significant impact to environment and society. Today’s panel of experts emphasise on the need for sustainable urbanisation, which integrates economic imperatives, social progress and environmental health into its development approach. Hamdan Abdul Majeed, Managing Director, Think City, references Georgetown Penang as a sustainable urban development model. It is a prime example of rejuvenating what already exists to meet growing urban demands. He advocates for financers to shift from the funding of conventional urban expansion, and focus instead on urban regeneration and rehabilitation. Wadzi Katsidzira, Initiative Lead, Global Development Incubator, discusses the challenges faced in financing sustainable infrastructure development, such as the lack of high-quality projects and identifying projects that drive impact. Investors can navigate these challenges through innovative finance solutions, institutional partnerships, and community-level contextualisation. Shahira Ahmed Bazari, Managing Director, Yayasan Hasanah, concludes the session with some insights on key considerations by donors and financiers when offering sustainable funding. Reflecting on Yayasan Hasanah’s experience in the sector, she explains how civil societies need to have a solid impact assessment framework, strong governance structure, and high-performance work culture to attract funds for positive development. 

15th October 2020

Delivering Better Value with ESG Financing: The financial sector plays a key role in positively contributing to sustainable development. Experienced speakers share their views on the role of banks as financial intermediaries and providers of capital in applying ESG factors or principles in lending and project financing. Rob Coombe, Sustainability Sponsor, CIMB Board of Directors, highlights the acceleration of innovative instruments in ASEAN, such as sustainability-linked loans and transition bonds. Drawing on CIMB’s experience, Rob emphasises that the push for greater sustainability is complex and should be seen as a journey. Simone Dettling, Banking Team Lead, UNEP Finance Initiative, moderates an insightful session on sustainable finance with panelists from progressive banks and institutions. Kylie Macfarlane, Founder and Managing Director of Novis Aurora Consulting, provides practical details on how sustainable finance can help banks better support their customers, while Gurdip Singh Sidhu, Group Chief People Officer, CIMB Group and Yulanda Chung, Head of Sustainability, DBS Bank, share their experience in putting these practices to work. On behalf of institutional investors, Alizakri Alias, Chief EPF Officer, Employees Provident Fund (EPF), speaks about the increasing focus on ESG investments and how they benefit both investors and investees. Sustainability is a future-fit tool that provides superior risk management and value creation, so there is a strong call for fund managers and businesses to start looking beyond short-term returns.

30th October 2020

Penampang: A Case Study of Circular Development in Sabah

Boyd Dionysius Jouman, Senior Vice President & Lead for Resilient Environment, Iskandar Regional Development Authority moderates the discussion with various public and private sector actors who have come together to put the Penampang district on the circular economy map in the last few years. Through his NGO work bringing micro hydro renewable energy to remote villages, Senator Adrian “Banie” Lasimbang, Senator in the Parliament of Malaysia creates a socioeconomic incentive for communities to conserve their watershed. Senator highlights the importance of a participatory approach to ensure the longevity of the project beyond installation. Benny Ng, Council Member, SHAREDA (Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association) then shares about the key role developers can and should play in promoting circular development by leveraging their strategic influence as a bridge between the public and private sectors and engaging with state authorities on the SDGs and proposed bylaws that will help to accelerate circularity as Sabah develops. Freddy Ekol, Councillor of Penampang District Council shares examples of circular economy in Penampang focusing on sustainable economic development and waste-to-energy strategies. The discussion enlightens listeners on the importance of acknowledging native law to empower communities to manage resources in a circular fashion. Chau Loon Wai, Senior lecturer at UTM-Low Carbon Asia Research Centre stresses that incentivising circular practices is key to getting mass buy-in. 

30th October 2020

How Architectural Design can be a Core Element for influencing Circular Behaviour: The built environment is a fixture for circularity because of the scale and impact on the environment as a consumer of materials and producer of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Yann Follain, Managing Director & Head of Design at WY-TO Singapore takes us through the application of circular approaches to the built environment. The four main domains are: design for longevity; design for service; design for reuse and refurbishment; and design for material recovery. He then shows examples of circular buildings from the Asia Pacific region, and ends by calling for a top-down approach of government policies to drive and centralise circularity, coupled with a bottom-up approach of industry and citizens participating and distributing circularity. 

30th October 2020

Why e-Commerce needs a Circular Packaging revolution:

The second part of this webinar focuses on circular e-commerce packaging. Marialine Verdickt and Laura Iturria, CEC Singapore Organisers highlights the problem of packaging waste and related emissions. They suggest that a packaging revolution is needed to keep up with increasing demand for fit-for-purpose packaging that meets the unique requirements of e-commerce logistics. Sharing innovative examples, they point to two key players: industry players like fulfilment companies and brands themselves to develop their own solutions that can even become marketing strategies, as well as government to establish e-commerce packaging guidelines.

31st October 2020

CEC Vienna & London: Closed Loop Supply Chains and Circular Start-ups

The first part of this webinar convenes a panel discussion on the transition to closed loop systems in global supply chains. Liwah Wong, Guest Scientist, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in Berlin brings the scientific view that much more needs to be know about closed loop systems and the quantifiable impact of various circular approaches. Martin Stavenhagen, Consultant/Coach/Collaborator & Co-Founder of Get Circular with SD Consulting believes more positive direction can be accelerated by government legislation such as the European Green Deal. Drawing parallels with Covid-19, Gabriella Gyori, Sustainable Procurement Officer, CEC Mentor and Procurement Consultant in Berlin says change is not so much a question of responsibility but of cooperation between all parties. The panellists agree that standards are helpful in pointing us all in the same direction. Following this, Dr. David Greenfield, European External Affairs Spokesperson of Circular Economy Club and Founder of SOENECS introduces listeners to CEC London’s activities and some of the exciting developments in circular economy particularly innovations from the start-up scene. He also touches on behavioural change and the funding gap for circular start-ups that must find a way to correlate environmental and social gains with financial value.