British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, is to mark the 5th anniversary of the opening of its Asian headquarters in Singapore with a $1.6 billion commitment to climate finance in the region.
The capital will be used to support developing economies in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, which rely on high-emitting fossil fuel power generation, to transit to a renewables-based future, BII said in a statement on Monday.
Of the $1.6 billion to be invested over the next five years, about half will be capital from BII, with a similar amount mobilised from private investors.
British Climate Partners (BCP), a climate finance initiative launched earlier this year by BII, will be the conduit for a significant proportion of that capital. BCP was founded to specifically invest in high growth, carbon intensive economies across Asia.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, said, “The climate crisis is a national security issue that demands urgent attention. That is why this government has a world leading agenda on tackling the climate crisis at home and internationally.”
Leslie Maasdorp, Chief Executive Officer of BII, who is in Singapore to launch the company’s new five-year strategy in the region, said, “Our singular focus for the Southeast Asia region is to fund climate finance projects that will contribute to the region’s clean and sustainable economic future. ”
Between 2023 and 2025, BII committed nearly $400 million in climate finance in Southeast Asia, in line with the organisation’s ambition for the period. Investments made in the period include ib vogt, Skye Renewables, Asian Development Bank, VPBank, HDBank and Xurya, as well as fund investments such as Pentagreen Capital’s Green Investment Partnership, Gresham House’s SUSI Asia Energy Transition Fund and 100×100 Impact Fund I.
BII is investing in sectors that are critical to reducing emissions and building more climate-resilience economies in Southeast Asia. This includes renewable energy generation, transmission, EV infrastructure, waste management and water infrastructure. Its investments are expected to add an estimated 1.8 GW of clean energy and avoid nearly 1.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
BII’s infrastructure and climate portfolio in Southeast Asia has supported approximately 358 MW of operational or installed clean-energy capacity, generated over 556,000 MWh of renewable electricity, and reported approximately 368,000 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided. It has also supported over 2,000 direct, operational, and temporary construction jobs.
Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at BII, added, “The next five years will see us commit a significantly greater level of capital to widen the pipeline of climate finance opportunities and turbocharge the pace of the green transition.”
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