The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched the ESG Impact Hub in an effort to promote collaboration between fintechs, startups, solution providers, financial institutions and economy stakeholders on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

The hub will also connect industry-driven green initiatives including the Point Carbon Zero Programme and KPMG’s ESG Business Foundry with the regulator’s own Project Greenprint.

The launch follows increasing industry interest in developing sustainable financial outcomes for all major stakeholders within the financial services sector, with 15 ESG fintechs and organisations already hub members as of October 2022.

MAS said in an announcement that the hub will quicken the growth of Singapore’s ESG ecosystem through a three-pronged approach, including:

• “Growing ESG FinTechs: The Hub will facilitate the discovery, scaling and deployment of technology solutions to address ESG needs of corporates and financial institutions, notably in terms of accurate measurement, reporting and verification of climate and sustainability data.
• Anchoring ESG Enablers: MAS will engage knowledge partners, financial institutions and investors to organise key ESG initiatives out of the Hub, such as ESG FinTech accelerator programmes, training and capacity-building workshops, and thought leadership events.
• Supporting ESG Stakeholders: MAS will engage the Hub community to deploy its programmes and solutions to drive material, quantifiable impacts that support sectoral transition efforts, with particular emphasis on the eight focus sectors identified by the Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT).”

“The establishment of the ESG Impact Hub is a critical milestone in Project Greenprint’s journey to build a vibrant and robust ESG ecosystem in Singapore, underpinned by technology and data,” Dr Darian McBain, Chief Sustainability Officer of MAS, said.

“This physical Hub will augment MAS’ plans to launch a digital Greenprint Marketplace next year to catalyse the growth of the region’s online ESG community; and will serve as the launchpad for public-private partnerships that support Asia’s just and sustainable transition to a low carbon economy.”