Taiwan’s Sole Signatory of the ‘Valuing Water Finance Initiative‘
TAIPEI, Oct. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Throughout Local weather Week NYC, Sophia Cheng, the CIO of Cathay Monetary Holdings, shared her insights on the iconic World Biodiversity Summit by contributing to the session “Valuing Pure Capital: Creating Markets for Nature” on 26 September 2024. Cheng mentioned the function of firms in driving nature-positive investments, rising traits, and actionable methods. She was additionally invited by Ceres (Ceres Valuing Water Finance Initiative) as Taiwan’s sole consultant to talk on “Constructing Company Local weather Resilience via Water Useful resource Administration.” It is also been the third consecutive yr that Cathay FHC has participated in Local weather Week NYC, additional demonstrating its international affect and Taiwan’s monetary sector’s dedication to selling nature-positive progress.
In her speech, Cheng emphasised the pressing want for growing capital to help nature-positive initiatives, citing Bloomberg[1] analysis, which estimates that USD 166 billion is allotted yearly to biodiversity conservation and restoration. Nevertheless, that is 5 instances lower than the estimated USD 996 billion per yr required by 2030 in the identical report. Cheng urged, “We want extra sources invested in sustainable provide chains, affect investing, and ecosystem constructing to develop the biodiversity market.” She identified that out of the 416 organizations from 51 international locations which have adopted the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Monetary Disclosures), 45% are from Asia. Cheng believes this indicators that Asian firms are keen to interact in additional nature-positive initiatives as soon as international frameworks turn into clearer.
Recognizing the complexity of biodiversity and nature-related sectors, Cheng instructed {that a} international biodiversity venture platform needs to be established. This platform would match numerous funding sources with nature initiatives throughout varied threat profiles whereas setting constant requirements, comparable to creating market guidelines for biodiversity credit, to reinforce market effectivity and stability. On the identical time, extra market members must see profitable examples. She highlighted World Financial institution’s “Rhino Bond,” which hyperlinks bond yields to the success of rhino conservation efforts. This initiative has already contributed to an 8% improve within the black rhino inhabitants, delivering twin advantages for each biodiversity and buyers.
All through the discussions at Local weather Week NYC, Cheng expressed issues over the overall lack of consideration to biodiversity loss, a sentiment echoed by fellow panelists. To encourage the viewers, the panelists adopted a optimistic and proactive stance, emphasizing the promising outlook for biodiversity. They highlighted sensible measures comparable to the development of the World Biodiversity Framework, the rise of biodiversity credit score schemes, the continual growth of applied sciences like AI, and quite a few transnational collaborations geared toward selling nature-positive progress. The notion “with nice energy comes nice duty” emerged as a central theme, with each private and non-private sectors being urged to collaborate in constructing a bigger, extra impactful market that integrates biodiversity. As Cheng concluded, she burdened that “everybody can affect a stakeholder, and the extra we interact, the extra profitable pure investments can be.”
On the Ceres Water Sources Discussion board, Cheng additional emphasised the essential significance of water sources, high quality, and stability for each human life and international ecosystems. She shared that, along with enhancing water effectivity in its operations, Cathay FHC and its subsidiaries analyze firms of their funding and financing portfolios with excessive water useful resource dangers. This consists of integrating water governance efficiency in industries comparable to semiconductors, energy, and meals into Cathay’s water useful resource funding administration and engagement methods. Cheng additionally praised Taiwan’s high-tech industries for his or her proactive responses to water-related dangers and inspired broader efforts in water governance, transferring from focused initiatives to extra complete methods to keep away from greenwashing dangers.
Cathay FHC continues to steer with modern monetary fashions that promote nature-positive outcomes. As the one Taiwanese monetary establishment to signal the “Valuing Water Finance Initiative”, Cathay FHC has invested in and supplied loans to water useful resource sector, together with water therapy, water provide, and wastewater administration. Cathay Life Insurance coverage, certainly one of Cathay FHC’s subsidiaries, as the primary monetary establishment in Taiwan to hitch Nature Motion 100, collaborated with 190 worldwide institutional buyers in 2023 to interact 100 firms in industries comparable to meals, chemical substances, forestry, and prescribed drugs—sectors considerably impacting pure habitats and biodiversity loss. These engagements urged firms to take proactive measures to guard and restore pure ecosystems.
Cathay FHC has noticed the rise of nature-themed asset administration and insurance coverage merchandise, together with promising blended finance fashions that appropriately worth ecosystem providers, thereby attracting extra investments. Cheng concluded by expressing hope for continued public-private sector collaboration in reaching nature-positive objectives and overcoming monetary obstacles.
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SOURCE Cathay Monetary Holdings
