The Asia Climate Finance Podcast

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Asia has no shortage of climate ambition. What it still struggles with is turning that ambition into capital. Over the past eight years, Yvonne Huang of Earth & Life Symbio has watched this gap play out, and she's less interested in the ESG deck presented in the boardroom than in what actually changes on the factory floor on Monday morning. In this conversation she explains why green steel is n...

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Why do we act on almost every crisis except climate change? In this episode, Frederic Samama, pioneer of the first low-carbon indices and co-author of the BIS Green Swan report, unpacks the psychology and finance behind our inaction. He walks through real cases, from decarbonising pension portfolios and loyalty shares that reward patient capital, to a green bond fund that crowded private money into...

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Sustainable construction costs under 1% more to build. So why are developers and investors still hesitating? Green building pioneer Armelle Le Bihan joins the show to explain how climate resilience is reshaping property development and bankability across Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia. That includes a $570 million Green Climate Fund and Asian Development Bank project in Ulaanbaatar. She explains wh...

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Chan Yau Chong, leading thought-leader and co-founder of Climate Finance Asia, reveals why Hong Kong's solar revolution hasn't scaled and exposes the uncomfortable truth about Asian investors' grip on coal. We unpack the real barriers to Asia's energy transition: from fiduciary duty rhetoric masking climate inaction to the policy gaps holding back coal phase-out across Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pa...

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Is India's net zero push real, or just clever PR? Arun Kumar of Asia Research and Engagement joins the podcast to explain why the greenwashing era is ending and why decarbonisation now wins on cost, not sentiment. We dig into the hard-to-abate sectors, green steel and cement, alongside power, coal, renewables, carbon markets, corporate PPAs and how Indian banks are pricing climate transition risk. ...

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Global carmakers are currently hiding a massive 33% carbon gap, effectively operating as oil companies in disguise. Ben Scott from Carbon Tracker joins us to reveal why legacy auto giants face a "Kodak moment" as they lag behind the electric vehicle transition. We explore how China’s EV dominance empowers the Global South to leapfrog fossil fuel dependency for strategic industrial survival. T...

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Summer Bae from Cleantech Group joins us to reveal how the Asia Pacific cleantech market is finally moving from hype to solid business proof. We dive into the "two valleys of death" for hardware startups and the urgent need for catalytic capital to bridge the regional funding gap. We explore how AI accelerates hardware breakthroughs and why the global focus has shifted from net-zero targets to ener...

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China's carbon market is already the world's largest, and it's about to get far more complex. Leading market expert Jeff Huang has a front-row seat to what's coming: absolute emissions caps replacing the old intensity targets, carbon auctioning arriving in steel, cement and aluminium, and Hong Kong quietly positioning itself as the trading hub that connects all of it to global markets. If you're wa...

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In this episode, Tan Chong Yee, Chief Financial Officer of FlyORO Technologies, joins us to unpack the critical logistics and funding mechanisms needed to scale sustainable aviation fuel across the Asia-Pacific region. We explore how innovative distributed blending infrastructure solves last-mile supply chain bottlenecks and helps bend the jet fuel cost curve. Climate finance and business professio...

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Cooling is responsible for 15 per cent of global emissions and uses nearly two thirds of the electricity in commercial buildings. In this episode, Sam Ringwaldt from Conry Tech explains how modular micro units can cut cooling energy by 70 per cent and increase asset valuations by 18 per cent. We explore the rise of Comfort as a Service, the next generation of deep‑tech retrofits, and what this mean...

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Our guest is Nana Li, a stewardship expert who's just written a handbook on navigating sustainability across Asia Pacific. She walks us through why the money decisions happening in Asia actually shape global sustainability, not the other way around.

We explore how China's state-led approach and Japan's demographic crisis are forcing real innovation in automation and energy transition. You'll get ins...

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China has emerged as the global clean tech leader through a national mandate for ecological progress and massive investments in solar, wind, and battery technology. Policy expert Christine Loh joins the show to explore China's transition away from coal and Hong Kong’s ambitious push for carbon neutrality by 2050. Listeners will gain vital insights into the future of green finance, including s...

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ASEAN requires a staggering $280 billion annually to meet its clean energy targets, placing the mobilisation of global capital at the heart of the regional agenda. In this episode, Dinita Setywati and Alnie Demoral, two experts from the energy think tank Ember explain why a modernised power grid is the essential backbone for Southeast Asia’s green transition. You will learn how to de-risk ren...

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Jo Richardson, head of research at the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, explains why the global debt market holds more power over climate transition than the stock market. Of the world’s 100 largest emitters are responsible for 75% of all emissions, but only 30 are listed on the stock market, yet all have debt outstanding. This reality gives fixed income investors unique influence over go...

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How is AI turning climate reporting from a tick‑box task into something useful? Greg Elders from Canbury Insights explains why financial materiality sits back at the heart of climate strategy. He shows how this shift affects investors, regulators and companies.

We examine Europe pushing for real sustainable impact under CSRD, the US facing ESG uncertainty and mixed signals from regulators, and Asian...

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Unlock the secrets of solar bankability in this episode with Harsh Goenka from Solargis, a leading solar data and software provider. We explore how high-quality satellite data and AI-driven forecasting reduce investment risk and manage weather variability. Discover how precise resource assessment helps grid operators transition from coal to reliable, base-load renewable energy by optimising battery...

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Host Joseph Jacobelli welcomes Mike Thomas, leading energy economist and founder of The Lantau Group (TLG), for their annual review and 2026 outlook. Mike argues that we have reached a historic tipping point where solar-plus-battery hybrids are now cost-competitive with traditional gas and coal, often without requiring a premium for base-load-style power.
The conversation dives deep into the "st...

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This special year‑end episode of Asia Climate Finance unpacks the three defining themes that shaped the energy transition in 2025. Joseph Jacobelli explores the ratchet effect driving unstoppable momentum, Asia’s emergence as a global rule shaper, and the rise of blended finance models unlocking capital for clean energy. He also highlights major trends from AI‑driven electricity demand to the...

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Asia's climate finance landscape is evolving rapidly. In our discussion, our guest,  KPMG's Ha Do, explores how Asian governments are shifting from policy ambitions to concrete implementation, the climate finance mechanisms proving most effective in mobilising capital, and why state-owned enterprises remain at mid-stage ESG maturity. We examine green public-private partnerships, regulatory con...