Singapore has launched a programme to mobilise up to $500 million in investments to strengthen climate resilience across Southeast Asia’s agri-food sector, including through a blended finance fund targeting projects and businesses along the value chain.
The initiative, known as Scaling Projects and Investments for Resilience in Asia (SPIRE Asia), was announced on Tuesday (November 10) by the city-state’s minister for sustainability and the environment, Grace Fu, at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Türkiye.
Jointly developed by the National Climate Change Secretariat, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Enterprise Singapore, the programme aims to address a shortage of investment in climate adaptation by helping projects become sufficiently developed and structured to attract private capital.
It will comprise: a data platform to identify climate risks and investment opportunities; a market development facility to aggregate and develop projects into investment-ready opportunities; and a blended finance fund with a target size of up to $500 million.
The fund will use catalytic capital to address specific investment risks and improve the risk-return profile for commercial investors, enabling financing for projects that might otherwise struggle to secure funding at the required scale or on acceptable terms.
Temasek Trust, the philanthropic arm of Temasek Holdings, will lead the development of the market development facility, working with regional and global partners to identify potential projects. Enterprise Singapore will lead the data platform, supported by Temasek Trust.
The programme will focus on climate adaptation across the agri-food value chain, as rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather increasingly disrupt agricultural production, livelihoods and food supply chains in Southeast Asia.
MAS said the initiative would also create opportunities for Singapore-based financial institutions, investors and agri-tech companies to participate in regional adaptation investments and scale their solutions.
