The inaugural Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Clean Economy Investor Forum was held on June 6, 2024, at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.
The full day, by-invite only event brought together 300 participants from the region’s top investors, cutting-edge project proponents, innovative start-up entrepreneurs, ministers and senior government officials.
Singapore Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong was the Guest of Honour at the IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum.
A total of 69 sustainable infrastructure projects amounting to over USD 23 billion of investment opportunities were identified at the Investor Forum. Of these, 20 investment-ready projects worth about USD 6 billion were presented to investors at business matching sessions. The remaining projects worth about USD 17 billion were also identified as potential investment opportunities in future.
Organised by the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry alongside the 13 other IPEF partners, the Investor Forum aimed to facilitate high-quality business and capital matching, and build connections between the public and private sectors.
This was a key initiative to advance the objectives of the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement, by mobilising financing in support of the development and deployment of clean energy and climate friendly infrastructure and technologies in the IPEF economies.
All IPEF partners were invited to nominate sustainable infrastructure projects through a process facilitated by PwC Singapore.
The 20 investment-ready projects are in diverse areas, including industrial parks, special economic zones, energy, agriculture and aquaculture, waste management, water and transport sectors, and were nominated by Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
In addition, 49 climate technology startups sought to raise up to USD 2 billion in new investments at the Investor Forum. These were identified by HolonIQ, a global research platform for the impact economy, from its shortlist of ‘Indo-Pacific Climate Tech 100’ of top climate technology start-ups based in the Indo-Pacific region.
The IPEF governments also announced new fundings and projects at the Investor Forum to pursue investments in clean economy. These include the following:
● Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United States announced the operational launch of an IPEF Catalytic Capital Fund, which is pooling resources to expand the pipeline of bankable clean economy infrastructure projects. A total of USD 33 million of initial funding is in progress and will be set aside to catalyse up to USD 3.3 billion of private investments in Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible countries.
● Japan will launch the Hydrogen Fund, which aims to leverage private financing in strengthening cross-border hydrogen supply chains. The Hydrogen Fund will also establish an “IPEF window” to deploy funding for activities undertaken in the IPEF region. It is scheduled to start operations by Q3 this year.
● Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam established a working group to strengthen investments in renewable energy projects in the region as well as study the development of a regional subsea cables framework to facilitate cross-border electricity trade.
● The US International Development Finance Corporation is contributing an equity investment to the Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund II, pending congressional notification. This will enable SEACEF to raise approximately USD 175 million to invest early-stage capital in projects and companies that will accelerate the transition to a climate-resilient economy.