Sustainable Finance Initiative

Earlier this month, SFi’s Head of Innovation, Christine Yu joined a panel hosted by SYNCICAP Asset Management and HKU iCube on "Driving Innovation for Good – Climate Impact, Ocean Impact". On the panel, Christine spoke about SFi members’ seasoned experience in investing in the #BlueEconomy. “As a community, our members typically invest in the blue economy through the lens of top thematics such as Food & Agriculture and Circularity/Innovative Materials.” She also shared some examples of previous investments made in this important and growing sector. We thank Syncicap and HKU iCube as well as fellow panelists from SWEN Capital Partners for the thoughtful and engaging dialogue on investing in impactful solutions for ocean health. #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #CapitalWithPurpose

Our thanks to Eric Ng and Happiness Capital | Certified B Corp for hosting SFi members and friends last week for an insightful and vibrant sharing on their recent trip to Bhutan. It was not easy organising a trip for 125 people, but also managing to infuse elements of impact and mindfulness throughout the entire journey was even more impressive. Happiness Capital also gave us an introduction to their Happiness Return Framework, an innovative approach applying a measurable framework around a seemingly intangible value. The Framework takes into consideration conditions affecting individual wellbeing, while also acknowledging the growing link between climate change and individual action, and has a goal of informing Happiness Capital's practical decisions by considering impacts within nine planetary boundaries. By integrating this approach with traditional financial assessments, Happiness Capital is able to enhance investment decisions, and promote comprehensive management of both financial and extra-financial returns. It was a great learning experience for all of us, and we look forward to continuing our exchange with Happiness Capital! #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #CapitalwithPurpose #ImpactMeasurement #GrossNationalHappiness #SFiEvents

A strong partnership is needed between asset owners and fund managers in order to support family offices in the "last-mile" activation for ESG and impact investing. This was the message shared by our CEO Katy Yung at the Responsible Investor Forum 2024 in Singapore. In her panel "Investor Perspectives on the Significance of how Managers Approach Sustainability", Katy shared SFi’s observation of growing interest among Asian-based family offices for #sustainable and #ESG investments, with over a quarter of investors surveyed by SFi allocating 50% or more of their portfolios to impact or ESG projects. While this investor demand has in turn pushed asset managers to increasingly look at ESG integration and selecting products for impact, they must also have skin in the game tied to performance if they are to generate long-term value creation. A big thank you to fellow panelists Peter Dunbar, Matthew Johns, Eimear Palmer, and moderator Billy Cotter for an insightful and engaging discussion. Our thanks to Responsible Investor as well for inviting Katy and our Head of Innovation Christine Yu to participate in the forum. #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #CapitalwithPurpose #ResponsibleInvesting #DoGoodDoWell #AssetOwners

The SFi team had a packed October, speaking at D3Jubilee Partners's Asia Impact Nights, Responsible Investor's Responsible Investor Forum, Hong Kong's APAC Family Office Investment Summit, and GoImpact Capital Partners's Green Tech Summit. We also hosted two events for our members, featuring Swiss carbon capture start-up Climeworks, and local nature-based start-up Archireef. Read more about these events, as well as impact news, research and events we have highlighted for the SFi community in our freshly released November newletter! #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #CapitalwithPurpose

Did you know that between 1957 and 2007, the coverage of living coral on reefs decreased by approximately 50%, while the abundance of fish species plummeted by 60%? This alarming statistic underscores the urgent need for innovative solutions in ocean preservation. 🐠 Our recent event at Ocean Park was truly inspiring, featuring an engaging discussion with Dr. David Baker, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Archireef. Dr. Baker illuminated the groundbreaking work being done with artificial coral reefs and their crucial role in restoring marine ecosystems. 🦐 Attendees enjoyed an exclusive tour of the breathtaking artificial coral installations within the Ocean Park Grand Aquarium tanks, providing an immersive experience that showcased the remarkable efforts underway to protect our oceans. 🐟 We were also thrilled to collaborate with the YPO (Young Presidents' Organisation), a global community of over 35,000 exceptional chief executives committed to fostering growth and making a positive impact. Together, we explored sustainable solutions for our seas and strengthened our network of changemakers. #OceanConservation #Sustainability #ImpactInvesting #MarineEcosystems #ArtificialReefs

Thank you to GoImpact Capital Partners for organising a thought-provoking conference, and for inviting Sustainable Finance Initiative to participate as well! Our Francesco Stadler had a great time moderating the conversation between Karen Ng, Jacky Lam, Sophie Ying Ying Zheng, and Kate Tsoi around impact additionality vs. scalability, and look forward to continuing the conversation as we continue on our impact explorations!

Our SFi member Xiaofei Guo just returned from #GIINForum2024, where the resounding takeaway was: long-term impact and financial performance go hand-in-hand. She kindly shared the key highlights with the SFi community: Though The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) estimates impact investing has grown into a USD1.571 trillion market globally, it is still far below what is necessary to meet all the challenges facing the world. As CEO Amit Bouri noted, "the scale of our ambitions is the scale of the world's problems". Impact investing is the opportunity that we create for the world that we want to live in. It is about redefining reality, rules and systems. Throughout the Forum, there was a recurring emphasis on #nature and #biodiversity, but it is not just about saving the planet, it is about saving the people we will leave behind us – our children. During the two days of insightful discussions, there was an emphasis on the urgency and opportunity in scaling solutions for climate action, energy access and inclusive growth. To achieve this, investors need to come together in collaborative efforts that can create sustainable growth and lasting change. XiaoFei was especially struck by the "Making a Just and Equitable Energy Transition" panel, in which panelist Damilola Ogunbiyi pointed out that “energy efficiency in the global north is essential for the energy access for the global south”. Indeed, impact investing does not happen in isolation, and opportunities for synergy must be sought out wherever possible. In our conversations with our members and wider global impact community, SFi are also seeing similar trends and requirements in the impact investing sector. We will be addressing all these reflections and much more, as part of our forthcoming #SFiImpactWeek2025 next May, so keep an eye out as we release more information over the coming months!

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has been gaining momentum as a high-potential pathway towards a net-zero future, attracting both public and private investments, with the latest being a £22 billion investment from the UK government. To give our community a deeper understanding of the industry, we held an engaging "Meet the..." session last week with Dr. Christoph Gebald, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of the CDR growth start-up Climeworks. Some of our key takeaways are: - CDR is not a temporary fix for high-emission industries: Reduction measures are currently cheaper than carbon capture and make more economic sense. - There is no silver bullet pathway to a net-zero future: Carbon capture alone will not be sufficient. - It’s not "OR" but "AND": We need a multi-pronged approach that supports both technological and natural CDR solutions. A big thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the vibrant conversation. We look forward to continuing these important discussions in the future! #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #CapitalwithPurpose #NetZeroFuture #CarbonDioxideRemoval #EmissionsReduction

Thank you AsianInvestor and Shusi He for writing about our Impact Survey, and sharing our findings that impact investing can be financially viable while also generating intentional impact. Impact investing is not merely a trend, but part of a movement towards a more sustainable future. Read more at: https://bit.ly/3ZECXQJ or download our full infographic here: https://bit.ly/3XyajOE, and be sure to reach out to us if you would like to kickstart or deepen your impact journey. #SFiInsights #ImpactInvesting #CapitalwithPurpose #SustainableFinance #SFiImpactSurvey

Four years of turmoil, starting with Covid and exacerbated by geo-political conflicts across the world, have produced economic headwinds the likes of which we have rarely witnessed. It is natural at times like this that Family Offices tend to look for safe harbours for their investments. In our latest #SFiInsights article featuring Sophie Khau of Mastery Holdings, find out about why impact investment should remain part of smart portfolio strategy and help generate the trillions needed to transition to a low-carbon economy. #ImpactInvestment #SustainableFinance #Purpose #FamilyOffices