FAST Conference 2024

The effects of the climate crisis are no longer merely a concern for tomorrow, but an existential threat to livelihoods today. 2023 saw nearly 400 notable natural disasters across the globe, amounting to US$380 billion in economic losses. Yet, the global adaptation finance gap is estimated to be US$194-366 billion per year. This lack of adequate public and private adaptation and resilience investments exacerbates the potential impact of rising physical climate risks particularly in developing markets including in Asia.

While investing in climate adaptation has often been seen as a public funding issue, the lack of participation from the private sector often stems from a misunderstanding of the potential returns and opportunities in adaptation and resilience projects. Studies have shown that the benefit-to-cost ratios could range from 2:1 to upwards of 10:1.

This panel will expand on the business case for financing adaptation, highlight where these investment opportunities lie, and discuss how private finance for climate adaptation projects can be catalysed and scaled.

Speakers

Marisa Drew

Chief Sustainability Officer

Standard Chartered Bank

Marisa Drew

Chief Sustainability Officer

Standard Chartered Bank

Marisa has been appointed as Chief Sustainability Officer for Standard Chartered Bank on 1 July 2022. However, during her 30 years career, Marisa covered several appointments. She worked from 1992 in Merrill Lynch until she joined Credit Suisse in 2003 in the investment banking area until 2017. Then, in 2017 Marisa founded the Impact Advisory and Finance Group of which she was CEO. She was appointed in early 2022 as a NED of the US-listed broadband and mobile company, Liberty Global plc, and in late 2021 as a non-executive director of the City of London Corporation. She further serves on the advisory boards of the Aspen Institute UK, the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy, and on several High-Level Working Groups (HLGs) sponsored by the World Economic Forum and the UN, including the UN Oceans Panel. Marisa’s external activities also include charitable Advisory Board roles for Cash & Rocket and the UK charity, Room-to-Read.

In 2022, Marisa was recognised by Sustainability Magazine as one of the Top 10 CSOs of a Global Corporation and in 2021 as one of 100 Global Visionary Leaders by Meaningful Business and EY. She has also been recognised by the BBC as one of the Most Powerful Women in Britain and by Fortune Magazine as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in International Business.
Jay Koh

Co-founder & Managing Director, The Lightsmith Group

Founder & Chair, Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI)

Jay Koh

Co-founder & Managing Director, The Lightsmith Group

Founder & Chair, Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI)

Jay Koh is Co-founder & Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group. Mr. Koh has over 20 years of experience in investing and public policy in the public and private sectors.

Prior to co-founding Lightsmith in 2016, Mr. Koh was a Managing Director and Partner of Siguler Guff, a global alternative investment firm with over $10 billion under management. Prior to joining Siguler Guff in 2012, Mr. Koh was the Head of Investment Funds and Chief Investment Strategist at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). In this role, Mr. Koh led the agency’s $2.6 billion active emerging markets private equity program. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Koh led private equity and illiquid investing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at R3 Capital, formerly the Global Principal Strategies Division of Lehman Brothers. Previously, Mr. Koh focused on direct growth equity investing as a Principal at The Carlyle Group, where he worked from 2000 to 2007 and also from 1993 to 1995. From 1998 to 2000, he served as a law clerk to Justice David H. Souter, United States Supreme Court, and to Judge Michael Boudin, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Mr. Koh serves on the Board of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the advisory committee to the NY Green Bank. He is also Founder & Chair of the Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI), a private investor-led initiative that was launched at Paris COP21 and is an official partner of the UN Secretary General’s A2R Climate Resilience Initiative.

Mr. Koh serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College, a master’s degree in Management from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Tom Moody

Regional Director Southeast Asia, Climate and Energy

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Tom Moody

Regional Director Southeast Asia, Climate and Energy

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Tom Moody oversees the UK Government’s climate change and energy strategy in the SE Asia region and with ASEAN. That involves mobilisation of regional policy, climate finance, commercial opportunities, and directing the UK’s unique network of climate change and policy advisers across SE Asia, building on the UK COP26 Presidency legacy. Before joining the work in SE Asia at the start of July, he spent 4 years in South Africa, overseeing HMG’s £50m portfolio of economic development programmes in Southern Africa, spanning a wide array of sectors from digital access, trade facilitation, health, education, to urban resilience. His preceding career has covered foreign and security policy, education, justice, and police accountability and standards.
Lubomir Varbanov

Managing Director & Head of Public Sector Solutions, Asia Pacific

Swiss Re

Lubomir Varbanov

Managing Director & Head of Public Sector Solutions, Asia Pacific

Swiss Re

Lubomir Varbanov is Managing Director and Head of Public Sector Solutions (PSS) for Asia Pacific at major global (re)insurer Swiss Re, where he leads the only group in the insurance industry fully-dedicated to partnering with Governments, multilateral organisations, sovereign wealth funds, development banks, export credit agencies and other public sector entities.

Prior to joining Swiss Re, Lubomir built over 25 years of industry and investment experience at the International Finance Corporation in Washington D.C. and Singapore, as well as at energy multinational BG Group (now part of Shell) in London.

Lubomir has served as Non-Executive Director on the boards of companies in Europe, Africa and Asia. His particular focus is in the areas of strategy, risk management and ESG.

Lubomir holds a BA in Business Studies and Languages from Regent’s College, London and an MSc in Finance from London Business School.
Moderator

Dave Sivaprasad

Managing Director & Partner

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Dave Sivaprasad

Managing Director & Partner

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Dave Sivaprasad is managing director and partner at BCG, leading the firm's climate and sustainability practice in Southeast Asia and climate adaptation and resilience in Asia Pacific. He's a core member of the energy, public sector and social impact practices at BCG. He is also a member of BCG's global climate leadership team and works with public and private sector clients on climate, sustainability and energy transition. He holds an MEng and BA in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Event Details

Main Stage
17 Apr 2024
35 mins
11:45 AM - 12:20 PM
Sands Expo and Convention Center, Level 5 Singapore
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Financing Asia’s Transition (FAST) Conference

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