The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has unveiled the ESG Impact Hub to stimulate collaboration between environment, social and governance (ESG) fintech start-ups and solution providers, financial institutions and real-economy stakeholders.

The Hub will also be home to ongoing industry-driven sustainability initiatives, such as the Point Carbon Zero Programme, a joint MAS and Google Cloud programme that aims to advance climate fintech solutions under the authority’s Project Greenprint and KPMG’s ESG Business Foundry, a six-month accelerator programme designed for scaling ESG fintechs.

The establishment of the Hub, the financial regulator says, will seek to use the strong industry interest in green and sustainable finance to expedite the growth of Singapore’s ESG ecosystem. So far, 15 ESG fintechs and organizations are already set up at the Hub.

As well, MAS will engage with knowledge partners, financial institutions and investors to organize key ESG initiatives out of the Hub, such as ESG fintech accelerator programmes, training and capacity-building workshops, and thought leadership events.

The financial regulator will also engage the Hub community to deploy its programmes and solutions to drive material, quantifiable impacts that support sectoral transition efforts, with particular emphasis on the sectors identified by the Green Finance Industry Taskforce.

And The Hub will be used to facilitate the discovery, scaling and deployment of technology solutions to address the ESG needs of corporates and financial institutions, notably in terms of accurate measurement, reporting and verification of climate and sustainability data.

“The establishment of the ESG Impact Hub is a critical milestone in Project Greenprint’s journey to build a vibrant and robust ESG ecosystem in Singapore, underpinned by technology and data,” says Darian McBain, chief sustainability officer, MAS. “This physical Hub will augment MAS’ plans to launch a digital Greenprint Marketplace next year to catalyze the growth of the region’s online ESG community; and it will serve as the launchpad for public-private partnerships that support Asia’s just and sustainable transition to a low-carbon economy.”