This article was originally published on Climate and Capital Media.
Can the ASEAN region leverage talent, Asian billionaire philanthropists, and South-South finance for a green transition?
Global climate finance is entering a period of disruption. In 2024, the United States contributed $11 billion in international climate funding — its highest level in years. But that support is now frozen or redirected under a new administration, leaving a vacuum in funding. For ASEAN, this not only creates a gap to be filled — but also a strategic opening to lead, by advancing a homegrown model of climate investment rooted in regional strengths.
The region has the resources to act. Asia is home to over 1,000 billionaires, with collective wealth projected to reach $4.7 trillion by 2026. At the same time, a generational shift is reshaping how that capital is deployed. Younger heirs are moving beyond legacy giving, aligning their wealth with sustainability and innovation.
Asia is home to over 1,000 billionaires, with collective wealth projected to reach $4.7 trillion by 2026.
“We’re seeing a real shift in where climate leadership can come from,” says Chintan Panchal, founding partner at RPCK, a leading international law firm in impact investing. “In my work with philanthropists and family offices globally, it’s clear that Asia’s next generation isn’t just inheriting capital . They’re rethinking its purpose. They’re channeling wealth into sustainability, backing local innovation, and doing so in markets where policy and business are more closely aligned.” RPCK recently facilitated a series of conversations with family offices and impact fund managers in Asia, exploring the region’s growing role in shaping impact investing strategies.
But momentum alone won’t close the gap. Climate finance in Asia is still nascent, with philanthropy historically focused more on health and education. Asian philanthropists also prefer direct implementation (i.e. running programs themselves) rather than grantmaking. According to Bridgespan, 45% of Asian philanthropies operate their own programs — compared to just 15% globally.
“[I]t’s clear that Asia’s next generation isn’t just inheriting capital. They’re rethinking its purpose.”
This model creates friction — but also opportunity. Filling the climate finance gap isn’t just about matching public grants or foreign aid based on the Western blueprint. It’s about building a regional ecosystem where capital, talent, and policy reinforce one another. By strengthening innovation pipelines, aligning public-private incentives, and developing the financial infrastructure for climate investment, ASEAN can unlock a self-sustaining investment landscape — one that draws capital because of its strength, not because of its needs.
Policy that puts talent at center stage
Among ASEAN countries, Singapore stands out for its forward-looking approach to climate leadership — anchored not in external foreign aid but in building a deep bench of talent and innovation that can spur investment in the region. Wagering that the pathway to long-term climate solutions lies in human capital, Singapore has prioritized talent development as a core pillar of its national innovation strategy.
Singapore has prioritized talent development as a core pillar of its national innovation strategy
Singapore’s approach is built on long-term planning through its five-year Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) plans. These national frameworks are designed not just to fund research, but to build the talent, infrastructure, and business environment needed for innovation-driven economies. Many researchers attribute the country’s economic success, despite limited natural resources, to aligning education with its pro-business policies.
The current RIE2025 plan has committed over S$25 billion (US$19.4 billion) in public funds to areas like advanced manufacturing, health, urban sustainability, and digital economy. A major portion of the funding supports talent development, including 29% for local universities and research institutes, 15% toward emerging research opportunities, and 9% toward talent development programs.
The upcoming RIE2026–2030 plan is expected to continue in this direction, with a greater focus on applied AI. While climate technology isn’t labeled as a core pillar, the government is building an ecosystem where innovation across key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, and transport can all support climate progress.
With Singapore continuing to attract the lion’s share of FDI in ASEAN — and a new regional economic integration plan unveiled at this week’s summit — there’s growing potential to channel the city-state’s innovation and talent into climate solutions for the broader region. But unlocking that promise will require more than capital; it demands intentional policies and follow-through on execution.
Bridging innovation and industrial deployment
One of the most persistent challenges in climate tech is the gap between early-stage innovations and real-world deployment — particularly in heavy industries like steel, cement, and petrochemicals, which underpin much of ASEAN’s economic base. Despite a growing pipeline of technologies, many solutions stall at the prototype phase, unable to overcome the hurdles of funding, regulation, or market integration. But unlike in Western markets — where innovation often advances in silos — ASEAN countries benefit from closer relationships between governments, philanthropies, and corporations.
In 2024, Breakthrough Energy, backed by Bill Gates, partnered with Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and the government’s SME-focused Enterprise Singapore to identify climate-relevant scientific breakthroughs and help chart their pathway to industrial use. This three-way collaboration — spanning technical validation, public coordination, and corporate application — offers a more integrated approach, though it’s still early. Last year, CRecTech and LinCore became Southeast Asia’s first Breakthrough Fellows.
CRecTech is developing a solution to produce methanol from biogas at scale to reduce carbon emissions from the maritime industry. Lincore focuses on refining critical raw materials needed for the global energy transition.
Earlier this month, HSBC, startup booster Third Derivative, and venture incubator Founders Factory launched the Futures Industry Partnership, specifically designed to help deep tech climate startups navigate the complexity of industrial deployment. The program pairs early-stage innovators with large corporations to run pilot projects, co-develop go-to-market strategies, and reduce the risk of scale-up failure. The model is promising: pair innovators with large corporations to de-risk market entry and align supply chains. But as with many ecosystem-led initiatives, execution will determine whether these efforts deliver real deployment or simply repeat the proof-of-concept treadmill.
What’s emerging may not yet be a breakthrough, but it’s a promising shift in direction. These efforts signal a growing willingness to move beyond fragmented grants and siloed venture bets toward more integrated, scalable models of deployment. If sustained and scaled, this approach could help ASEAN overcome structural barriers and turn early-stage climate innovation into real industrial impact.
The promise of regional multilateral banks
As ASEAN charts its course on climate finance, multilateral institutions are beginning to reflect this regional shift. While the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s messaging on climate finance has noticeably softened in 2025 following uncertainty from key backers like the United States, Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB) are expanding their footprint — filling investment gaps across Asia and globally. (BRICS was initially founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and has since incorporated other members).
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Yet whether they are truly delivering — or simply rebranding their development mandates as climate-aligned — is up for debate. AIIB, for instance, has touted an increasingly global footprint, with climate-related investments now reaching into Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. In 2025, the bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey committing $5 billion in three years to support sustainability and green development projects. Earlier this year, AIIB also joined a $8 billion pledge alongside other lenders including Islamic Development Bank, to connect 300 million Africans to electricity in the next six years. These announcements are ambitious — but AIIB has historically been criticized for lack of accountability.
As the US retreats, the region has the chance to step forward by leveraging its own strengths
The NDB, too, is expanding its reach. Indonesia announced its intention to join in March, citing the need to accelerate economic transformation through greater support for renewables and tech infrastructure. But NDB’s track record is also mixed — its climate-related disbursements are modest relative to its stated ambitions, and implementation timelines are often opaque.
For ASEAN countries, these institutions may offer an appealing alternative to Western-led banks — but there is still a gap between rhetoric and execution. The promise must be matched by delivery. If AIIB and NDB hope to become credible climate finance anchors in the region, they will need to improve transparency, ramp up concessional support, and ensure projects are truly climate-aligned.
A defining moment
ASEAN’s climate moment is not just born of necessity — it’s an inflection point defined by opportunity. As the US retreats, the region has the chance to step forward by leveraging its own strengths: coordinated public institutions, growing philanthropic capital, and deepening industry partnerships.
Most importantly, a generational handover of wealth in Asia is already catalyzing a new vision for capital — one that blends business, impact, and climate ambition. If governments, philanthropies, and industry leaders can align with intention and urgency, ASEAN will not only fill a global vacuum — it will redefine climate leadership for the Global South.
This is not about catching up. It’s about showing a different way forward.