Singapore will shortly be prepared to invest part of the US$500 million (S$646 million) which it had provisionally reserved as seed funding for green projects here, with opening a new office to further roll out a scheme announced in 2023.
This refresh of Fast-P – or Financing Asia's Transition Partnership – was unveiled by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Chia Der Jiun on May 7 at the Ecosperity Week sustainability conference.
The new MAS office will assist in financing marginally bankable clean energy infrastructure in Asia, which can be considered too risky or unprofitable for investors.
The objective of Fast-P, a program initiated by MAS in 2023, is to leverage an initial injection of capital by the Singapore Government to raise funding from other sources.
The US$500 million will be in the form of concessional funding, including grants and loans extended at more favorable terms and below market rates.
This financing will be matched dollar-for-dollar with other partners' concessional capital, such as that of other governments, multilateral development banks, and philanthropic organizations.
We hope to raise a total of US$5 billion with assistance from other commercial and philanthropic partners. The money will be invested in three pillars – speeding up the energy shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, scaling up green investments, and decarbonizing emissions - heavy industries such as cement and steel manufacturing.
The second pillar on green investments will be starting investments in the next few months. Mr Chia did not state what kind of clean energy infrastructure projects will receive the money.
But this pillar is geared towards renewable energy power plants and storage, electric vehicles, transport, and water and waste management projects, according to a 2024 MAS media announcement.
Asia's electricity demand is expected to grow at a rate of 4 per cent a year until 2035, Mr Chia pointed out. Renewable energy is expected to provide over half of Asia's additional electricity demand, according to the International Energy Agency.