The GFANZ initiative will help to address the challenges involved in responsibly decommissioning these plants, including the fiduciary and reputation risks  3/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  that financial institutions may face from the initial spike in financed emissions as a result of investing in such early phase-out projects. Singapore has been doing its part to complement these global and regional efforts to promote transition and blended finance. Infrastructure Asia, launched by MAS and Enterprise Singapore, provides technical assistance to enhance project bankability, thereby helping to attract financing. It provides expertise in project scoping, shares best practices in project development, and facilitates infrastructure financing deals in the region. Infrastructure Asia is facilitating a number of sustainable infrastructure projects, including in waste management and waste-to-energy. Clifford Capital, whose borrowings are guaranteed by the Singapore Government, provides debt financing to crowd in equity participation for infrastructure projects. Bayfront Infrastructure Management, established by Clifford Capital, mobilises institutional capital for project and infrastructure finance through the issuance of infrastructure asset-backed securities. To-date, it has catalysed a total of $ for sustainable infrastructure from institutional investors. MAS will inject seed capital into an Asia Climate Solutions Design Grant hosted by Convergence. The scheme will provide funding for feasibility studies and proof of concept work on innovative blended finance solutions in target sectors that are significantly under-capitalised in Asia, such as early-stage climate adaptation and mitigation technology, clean energy access, sustainable transport, and nature-based solutions. This will help to build a pipeline of investible projects for investment.

There are some promising global developments that may help to address some of these challenges. The United Nations has convened a high-level advisory board on effective multilateralism which will explore reforms to the global financial architecture to help channel more public and private capital to developing countries. This is timely work. If we are to finance the sustainable infrastructure that the world needs, especially through blended finance, we will need to reform how development finance is implemented and consider adjustments to the mandates and incentive structures of multilateral development banks. The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System is launching an initiative to raise awareness on blended finance including potential regulatory and practical barriers. We can look forward to more details at COP 27 but suffice to say the NGFS will focus on practical guidance from past case studies and demonstrative projects to explore what is possible. The GFANZ Asia-Pacific Network will launch an initiative to develop guidance for financial institutions on how they can facilitate the managed phase-out of coal power generation in the Asia Pacific. MAS and the Asian Development Bank will participate in this initiative. There are about 5,500 operational coal plants in Asia, responsible for over 4.5 gigatonnes of carbon emissions per year. Asia's coal plants are far younger than the coal fleets in the US and Europe, with the majority having decades left to operate.