Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, DBS, is partnering with Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to deepen climate adaptation and resilience financing across the Asia Pacific region, according to an announcement.
The partnership will focus on identifying investment opportunities linked to climate adaptation and resilience, including in sectors such as energy and real estate.
DBS and CBI also said they will jointly develop a research paper aimed at mapping investable opportunities across the region.
The paper aims to identify investable opportunities across key sectors, supported by CBI’s proprietary assessment methodologies and DBS’ regional insights, per the announcement.
The move comes as financing needs for climate adaptation continue to rise globally.
Citing the United Nations Environment Programme’s Adaptation Gap Report 2025, DBS said more than $365 billion in annual financing will be needed by 2035 to help economies and communities adapt to physical climate risks such as floods, heatwaves, and rising sea levels.
“As the effects of physical climate risks grow in scale and frequency, the need to help businesses and communities adapt to better withstand climate shocks is becoming more urgent,” said Kelvin Wong, chief sustainability officer at DBS.
The partnership will also see DBS roll out internal training programmes for relationship managers and assessment teams to integrate climate adaptation and resilience considerations into financing decisions and risk analysis.
Last year, DealStreetAsia reported that DBS was broadening its portfolio of climate transition financing and doubling down on financing projects aimed at a low-carbon economy.
Under an enhanced transition financing framework, the bank will target mid-cap companies and small-to-medium enterprises in the region, alongside larger corporations, beyond green energy players.
The bank’s Transition Finance Framework, first launched in 2020, is designed to support businesses across key sectors and markets in Asia as they transition to low-carbon operations.
DBS has over $500 million in assets and operations in 19 markets across the Asia Pacific. For 2024, it committed S$89 billion in sustainable finance, net of repayments. It has also facilitated S$38 billion in sustainable bond issuances.
