ESG in Fixed Income Asia 2023

Welcoming remarks: Ahren Lester, Assistant Editor, Environmental Finance

Breakfast presentation from Environmental Finance Data: Market movements – sustainable bonds and loans

Speaker:
Benedict Smith, Data Strategist, Environmental Finance Data

Keynote address: The three pillars of the sustainable finance ecosystem - Taxonomy, Transition and Disclosures

Moderator:
Ahren Lester, Assistant Editor, Environmental Finance
Speaker:
Eugene Wong, CEO, Sustainable Finance Institute Asia (SFIA)

Panel: Financing transition pathways for APAC

• Identifying credible decarbonisation pathways for emerging markets
• What is the outlook for SLB and transition bond issuance in the Asia-Pacific region?
• How do investors feel about both?
• How can SPOs provide challenging feedback and drive change at companies looking to transition?
• What else is needed for hard-to-abate sectors to take advantage of labelled financing?

Moderator:
Antoine Rose, Head of Sustainability APAC, CACIB

Panellists:
Henry Loh, Head of Asian Credit, abrdn
Jakub Malich, Vice President, ESG & Climate Research, MSCI
Jeffrey Lee, Regional Manager APAC Sustainable Finance, Moody's Investors Service
Sylvia Chen, Head of ESG, South Asia, Amundi

Panel: Unlocking emerging market bonds for international investors

• What is the investor interest in emerging markets GSSS issuance?
• EU taxonomy: How can the DNSH requirements be balanced with the reality of emerging market issuances so that EU-regulated funds can access emerging markets GSSS bonds?
• Could equivalency exercises be established?
• How has the macroeconomic picture and cost of debt shifted for emerging market issuers?
• What are the strategies for investors when managing currency risk?
• Developments, opportunities, and challenges for sustainable impacts in international bond markets
• Sustainable impact measurements in emerging markets and globally

Moderator:
Martijn Hoogerwerf, Head of Sustainable Finance APAC, ING

Panellists:
Anuj Awasthi, Vice President, Operations, Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF)
Ayako Kageyama, Senior Expert, Sustainable Investments, Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Development Program
Nicholas Tan, CEO, Bayfront Infrastructure Management
Samuel Gan, Director, Head of Debt Capital Markets, SGX 

Panel: Taxonomies and ESG regulation

• What commonalities and differences are there in how Hong Kong, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore and other regions are developing ESG regulation?
• Taxonomies being developed at the country level and the influence of the EU's taxonomy
• Do definitions of green need to be localised?
• How is the coal phase out is being addressed by the Singapore and ASEAN taxonomies?
• Progress made on the China-EU Common Ground Taxonomy and its impact on issuance
• Which regions look set to endorse it?

Moderator:
Melissa Cheok, Associate Director, Sustainable Fitch
Panellists:
Eugene Wong, CEO, Sustainable Finance Institute Asia (SFIA)
Lisa Tao, Senior Credit Analyst, Invesco
Joanne Khew, Director, ESG Specialist, Eastspring Investments
Salmah Bee Mohd Mydin, Executive Director, Market Development, Securities Commission Malaysia

Panel: Sustainability-linked bonds – a year in review

• Did SLBs make a comeback in 2023?
• How can SLBs be more ambitious? Should issuers be incentivised to not just hit targets but exceed them?
• How do you identify what is material?
• What has been the investor reaction to the two-way structure? Are step downs more effective and attractive to ESG investors looking to support transitions?
• Will other issuers follow on the two-way structure?
• What kinds of investors are investing in SLBs in Asia? Are they mainstream or ESG investors?

Moderator:
Ricco Zhang, Senior Director, Asia Pacific, ICMA

Panellists:
Kevin Monteiro, Executive Director and CFO, Japfa
Bertrand Jabouley, Head of Sustainable Finance, Asia-Pacific, S&P Global Ratings
Olivier Menard, Head of the Green & Sustainable Hub, Asia Pacific, Natixis CIB
Sheng Ou Yong, Green Bonds & ESG Analyst, BNP Paribas Asset Management

Panel: Sovereign issuance and sustainability engagement

• 2022 was a record-breaking year for sovereign sustainable bond issuance from Asia. How has 2023 compared?
• How can sovereign engagement be navigated? What progress has been made?
• Sovereigns and SLBs – are they a good idea or could they be liable to greenwashing?
• What can we learn about innovative sovereign structures from across the world?
• Why aren't some sovereigns conducting impact reporting?

Moderator:
Nishant Bhagchandani, Manager, South Asia and ASEAN, Sustainalytics

Panellists:
Claudia Gollmeier, Managing Director, Senior Investment Officer, Colchester Global Investors (Singapore)
E-Lyn Tan, Principal Analyst, Green Bonds, New Zealand Debt Management – The Treasury
Jarek Olszowka, Head of Sustainable Finance IBD, Nomura
Richard McKenzie, Head of Strategy, Western Australian Treasury Corporation

Fireside chat: Japan’s road to net zero

• What can other jurisdictions learn from the Japanese climate transition guidelines and sectoral roadmap approach?

• What has been the issuer and investor reaction?
• How might the traffic light system work for the region's taxonomies, particularly amber categories? How comfortable are investors with them?

Moderator:
Ahren Lester, Assistant Editor, Environmental Finance

Speaker:
Satoshi Ikeda, Chief Sustainable Finance Officer, Financial Services Agency

Fireside chat: Spotlight on Cambodia

• What impact could green bonds have in the region?
• How is the Cambodian Green Bond Accelerator progressing?
• What could be the potential for international investors in the future?

Moderator:
Benedict Smith, Data Strategist, Environmental Finance Data

Speaker:
David Oum, Chief Financial Officer, Golden Tree

Panel: ESG-labelled loans

• What is the potential for green, social and sustainability-linked loan structures?
• How are use of proceeds or KPIs identified and applied?
• Which sectors are showing an interest in these structures?
• What is the bank and investor appetite for such structures?
• How should issuers seek to balance transparency with commercial confidentiality?

Moderator:
Stella Saris Chow, Head of Sustainable Finance, International, ANZ

Panellists:
Chee Wee Tan, Senior Environmental and Social Specialist (Private Sector), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
Calvin Lee Kwan, Head of Sustainability & Risk Governance, Link Asset Management

Panel: Social bonds

• What is the potential for social bonds in APAC?
• Which sectors are posed to issue?
• How can transition finance be applied with regional economic and social dynamics in mind?
• Which industrial and financial mechanisms facilitate a just transition?

Moderator:
Benedict Smith, Data Strategist, Environmental Finance Data

Panellists:

Eugene Tan, Regional Manager, East Asia, Symbiotics
Raymond Liu, Senior Vice President (Finance), The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation
Robert Kraybill, Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)
Nicole Lim, Investment Analyst, ESG, Fixed Income, abrdn

Chair’s closing remarks

Close of conference and networking drinks reception