Creating a Positive Impact through Responsible Investing

2023 was marked by significant market turbulence and unpredictability, with continued conflict in Europe and the Middle East, uncertainty over the pace of US rate hikes and notable financial institutions collapses. Nonetheless, we remain steadfast in our commitment to sustainability and climate action. 

In 2023, we strengthened our approach to ESG integration through expanding our investments in climate mandates, green bonds and increasing our commitment to impact funds. These investments increase our contribution to real-world decarbonisation and regional transition. Building upon the S$1bn in Asian Equity and S$800mn in Asian Bonds that we have placed out to be managed with a low-carbon objective previously, we have further transited S$200mn of our listed equity portfolio in developed markets to be managed with a climate mandate this year. We will continue to assess various levers to decarbonise our portfolios while minimising portfolio turnover and transaction impact. 

Accelerating Investment in Green Bonds and Impact Funds

We are also increasing our allocation to climate solutions to contribute to and enable emissions reductions to support real world decarbonisation. In particular, our green bond holdings amount to around S$2.5bn as of December 2023, putting us on track to achieve our 2025 target of S$3bn. We are also looking to further diversify our holdings to ensure broad exposure to the deepening global green bond market. Green bonds’ proceeds are used to finance green projects and will be a key contributor in addressing the impact of climate change and related challenges. Beyond these, we have continued to direct more capital to impact and decarbonisation solutions within private equity with slightly over S$150mn total committed as of December 2023, exceeding our 2025 target of S$100mn in impact/decarbonisation private equity solutions ahead of schedule.