Stay tuned for updates on the COP31 Singapore Pavilion in Antalya, Türkiye, 9 - 20 November 2026

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Progress in Action

Dive into interviews with our partner organisations to discover the strategy and insight behind climate-resilient initiatives.

Partners discussing climate-resilient initiatives

How do you get funds behind the climate solutions that need to scale?

How can finance help turn ecosystem restoration into measurable impact?

Structured by BNP Paribas, the Spekboom Restoration Outcome Bond mobilises USD$25m of institutional capital for a nature project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape region. This $120m 14-year World Bank bond issuance supports large-scale ecosystem restoration, aims to create 11,000 jobs and accelerate sustainable development.

By bringing together public finance, institutional capital, and corporate demand, the model demonstrates how innovative financing can support nature restoration, job creation, and sustainable development.

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What will it take to scale climate solutions?

Many climate solutions already exist. The challenge lies in scaling them effectively and sustainably.

Frederick Teo, Chief Executive Officer of GenZero, shares about what it takes to scale climate solutions, why community participation matters, and how international platforms like COP31 can help move climate action forward.

Kwahu landscape restoration project in Ghana

Project Brújula Verde: native plants growing under planted trees

Many technology and nature solutions the world needs to address climate change already exist. The challenge is to deploy these solutions cost-effectively at scale. GenZero brings different capabilities, from investment capital to ecosystem development, to scale up climate solutions.

We are climate realists; we have to be principled but pragmatic. We are guided by a practical mindset to deliver sustainable financial returns and climate impact. This is the key thesis that GenZero was set up to prove. It is possible but needs patient capital that can balance near-term financial resilience with long-term returns and climate impact.

A common misconception is that price is a signal of quality, especially when it comes to carbon credits. There is also a misperception that climate solutions must come with a green premium. This is not accurate. High-integrity carbon projects can be very cost-effective. Climate solutions, when properly scaled-up and developed, can in fact have a green discount. Renewable power generation today can be cheaper than fossil fuels. Electric vehicles can have a lower total cost of ownership than internal combustion engine vehicles.

We put in significant effort to engage with different stakeholders to make sure our work is effective and impactful on the ground. This is especially true of our nature-based projects in developing economies. We work closely with local leaders, community institutions and project implementation teams to understand the local conditions and ensure an equitable distribution of benefits to deliver real-world impact and sustainable development. For example, our support for sustainable forestry projects ensure that we improve degraded lands while providing good employment for local communities.

A good idea is only the beginning. Scaling it requires credible measurement, sound governance, viable economics and where local communities are involved, meaningful participation from the outset.

It also demands a multi-disciplinary approach. This isn’t just a finance or science problem. It’s equally about the economics and politics of sustainable development, and about building a holistic theory of change with the communities involved.

We also need to learn how to “fail fast” when things aren’t working out. Getting the fundamentals right early is what creates the foundation for lasting impact.

COP brings stakeholders representing different parts of the ecosystem and from different geographies to meet and discuss approaches for climate action. The dialogue and frank sharing of experiences and lessons learnt help all of us forge consensus and drive action.

At COP31, I hope we can move the conversation further from ambition towards implementation.

Progress on climate action requires us to go beyond simple binaries – nature or tech, mitigation or adaptation, reduction or removals. It needs principled pragmatism, and an openness to embrace different solutions. Besides sharing our own experiences, we want to, more importantly, listen to how others are navigating these challenges across different markets.

Addressing climate change is a real intellectual challenge – to develop climate solutions that are impactful and financially sustainable. It is also deeply rewarding because of the real-world impact we can achieve if we do our work well. After all, Singapore and Asia will disproportionately bear the brunt of climate change, from global warming to sea level rise.

What gives me hope is that climate action is becoming more deeply embedded in how economies operate, from policy and investment to corporate decision-making. Progress will not be linear or fast enough. But the more climate action becomes part of the real economy, the more durable, and the harder to reverse that progress becomes.

One lesson comes through consistently. We cannot separate durable climate outcomes from the people whose lives and livelihoods are connected to them. Community participation and benefit cannot be added after the climate economics are designed. They need to be part of the model from the outset, so communities have a genuine stake in making the impact last.

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Can Asia transition to green energy without slowing growth?

Advancing climate solutions takes more than innovation. It requires the right policies, financing, and partnerships to bring these solutions to scale.

Drawing on insights from Ecosperity Week 2026, Temasek’s annual flagship sustainability event, Kyung-Ah Park, Chief Sustainability Officer at Temasek, shares how collaboration can help translate climate discussions into real-world progress, and how COP31 enables countries and partners to learn from approaches that are delivering tangible outcomes elsewhere.

Emcee on the main stage at Ecosperity Week 2026

Attendees at the Ecosperity Week 2026 venue

Ecosperity Week is Temasek’s annual flagship sustainability event, bringing global leaders from government, business, finance, technology, and civil society together to identify practical, scalable pathways for Asia’s sustainability transition.

It matters because Asia is where the battle on climate will be won or lost – but there is no single transition pathway. Given the scale of the challenge and opportunity, its diverse markets cannot transition in silos. Progress depends on connecting solutions with policy support, credible demand, fit-for-purpose capital and partners who can execute across markets.

Climate solutions face barriers in moving from innovation to commercial deployment at scale. This requires technology, capital, policy, and businesses to work in concert. Ecosperity brings these interdependent stakeholders together to catalyse system-wide momentum for climate action, innovation and sustainable development.

At Ecosperity Week, innovators can hear what customers need; investors can understand where risk must be shared; policymakers can see which market barriers are constraining deployment; and businesses can find partners to test and scale solutions. The purpose is not simply to exchange views, but to shorten the distance between innovation, investment and real-economy impact.

Ecosperity’s conversations and partnerships have helped inform policy, contribute to ecosystem resilience, and support scalable sustainability models to advance the region’s climate and development progress.

One such example is the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P), launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which brings together governments, multilateral institutions, philanthropies and commercial investors to deploy blended finance to improve the bankability of green assets and transition the brown assets in Southeast and South Asia. Over the last four years, the FAST Conference at Ecosperity Week, which is in partnership with MAS, has provided a recurring platform to build shared understanding of this financing need, connect relevant stakeholders and sustain momentum as the concept developed into a financing mechanism.

Intent needs to translate into outcomes. Forums such as Ecosperity Week are valuable when there’s a clear “who, what and next”. Who owns the next step? What barrier is being removed? What evidence will show that progress is real?

Ultimately, meaningful climate progress comes from implementation, by accelerating practical solutions, mobilising capital, and delivering measurable impact in the real economy.

COP performs a role that no company or country can do alone: it creates a common global platform and framework for reviewing progress, negotiating shared rules and raising collective ambition. It also brings governments, investors, businesses, innovators and civil society into the same ecosystem, allowing international decisions to connect with practical solutions and capital.

But convening is the starting point, not the finish line. The credibility of COP ultimately rests on what happens between conferences: how national commitments shape policy, how policy changes investment incentives, and how those incentives translate into projects, infrastructure and resilience on the ground.

At COP31, I hope to share some of the perspectives that emerged from Ecosperity Week 2026, particularly the importance of aligning innovation, commercial demand, suitable capital and implementation to accelerate climate solutions across diverse markets.

Asia is a useful test ground given the region must meet rapidly growing demand for energy and digital infrastructure while improving affordability, security and resilience. That makes pragmatism essential. We need solutions that are not only low carbon, but investable, scalable and suited to very different market conditions.

I would also welcome the opportunity to learn from approaches that are delivering tangible results elsewhere. Which policy signals are creating durable demand? Which financing structures are crowding in private capital rather than simply funding one-off projects? How are countries building resilience into infrastructure, food, water and health systems? And how are they managing the growing energy and resource demands of AI and digitalisation responsibly? A key area of interest would be to understand how successful models can be adapted to Asia’s diverse pathways, resource endowments, and market conditions.

What has surprised me most is not the shortage of ideas or long-term ambition but the need to balance diverging real and perceived needs and ensure alignment across partners.

People can agree on the destination and still differ sharply on the route because they face different realities: a government must balance growth, affordability and security; a business may be at the mercy of public markets that don’t value capex-heavy long-term investments; an investor needs to consider their opportunity cost of capital and their fiduciary requirements; and a community wants confidence that the transition will improve livelihoods rather than leave people behind.

That diversity can look like friction, but it is also where better solutions are forged. When the right people stay in the conversation long enough to understand one another’s constraints, the question changes from “who should act?” to “what would make action possible?” That is often the point at which collaboration becomes practical, and relationships built at a convening continue to create value well after the event.

...building tomorrow's energy system while transforming today's.

Asia will account for most of the world's future energy demand growth, yet the region remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with coal still providing around half of its electricity. That means the transition is not about switching off one system and turning on another.

We need to rapidly scale renewables, grids, storage and other enabling infrastructure. We need more resilient and diversified energy systems to support economic growth and energy security. And we need to transition existing high-emitting sectors responsibly and pragmatically.

The real challenge is not choosing between growth and sustainability. It is redesigning the systems that allow Asia to deliver both at the same time.

Progress in Action

BNP Paribas

How do you get funds behind the climate solutions that need to scale?

Q1.What climate challenge is this initiative trying to solve?

Q2.What makes this approach different or innovative?

Q3.What impact has the initiative achieved so far?

Q4.Why are international collaboration and platforms such as COP important to advancing this work?

Q5.What gives you hope when you look at the future of climate action?

Cedars Digital

[Headline question]

Q1.What climate challenge is this initiative trying to solve?

Q2.What makes this approach different or innovative?

Q3.What impact has the initiative achieved so far?

Q4.Why are international collaboration and platforms such as COP important to advancing this work?

Q5.What gives you hope when you look at the future of climate action?

Univers

[Headline question]

Q1.What climate challenge is this initiative trying to solve?

Q2.What makes this approach different or innovative?

Q3.What impact has the initiative achieved so far?

Q4.Why are international collaboration and platforms such as COP important to advancing this work?

Q5.What gives you hope when you look at the future of climate action?

Standard Chartered

[Headline question]

Q1.What climate challenge is this initiative trying to solve?

Q2.What makes this approach different or innovative?

Q3.What impact has the initiative achieved so far?

Q4.Why are international collaboration and platforms such as COP important to advancing this work?

Q5.What gives you hope when you look at the future of climate action?

GenZero

What will it take to scale climate solutions?

Q1.How would you explain GenZero's approach to accelerating decarbonisation, and what climate challenges are you trying to address?

Q2.What is one thing people often misunderstand about investing in climate solutions?

Q3.No one can solve climate change alone. How does GenZero work with governments, businesses, and local communities to turn climate solutions into real-world impact?

Q4.What does it take for a climate solution to move from an idea or early-stage project into something that can deliver impact at scale?

Q5.What role can platforms like COP play in helping to create progress in climate action?

Q6.What are you hoping to share with, and learn from, others at COP31?

Q7.On a personal level, what is your 'why' for doing this work, and what is the most rewarding part of it?

Q8.What gives you hope when you look at our climate future?

Q9.Across GenZero's work, including initiatives such as the Kwahu landscape restoration project in Ghana and Project Brújula Verde in Colombia, what have you learnt about what it takes to deliver climate impact while creating benefits for local communities?

HSBC

[Headline question]

Q1.What climate challenge is this initiative trying to solve?

Q2.What makes this approach different or innovative?

Q3.What impact has the initiative achieved so far?

Q4.Why are international collaboration and platforms such as COP important to advancing this work?

Q5.What gives you hope when you look at the future of climate action?

Temasek

Can Asia transition to green energy without slowing growth?

Q1.If you had to explain Ecosperity Week to someone unfamiliar with it in two sentences, how would you describe what it does and why it matters?

Q2.What is one challenge Ecosperity Week is designed to address, and how does bringing different sectors together help move solutions forward?

Q3.No one can solve climate change alone. Given its collaborative nature, can you share one example from Ecosperity Week 2026 that shows how collaboration moves a climate solution or idea closer to implementation?

Q4.What, in your opinion, needs to happen after conversations like those at Ecosperity Week for them to translate into meaningful climate progress?

Q5.What role can platforms like COP play in helping to create progress in climate action?

Q6.What are you hoping to share with, and learn from, others at COP31?

Q7.What has surprised you the most through your work on Ecosperity Week?

Q8.Finish this sentence: “Most people don’t realise that making progress on Asia’s climate transition requires…”