The Global Climate Action Forum 2024 (GCAF) was held from May 16-17 at the Himawari Hotel Apartments. Co-organised by the W-Foundation and the Cambodian Ministry of Environment, the forum featured discussions on pressing climate issues across various sectors, with wide participation from the private sector and government bodies.
The forum’s main focus was to enable participants to understand Cambodia's future vision for climate action, raise awareness on net-zero initiatives, and form the Climate Action Alliance, the Security Token Offering (STO) Alliance, and the Carbon Credit Alliance.
During his opening keynote remarks, the Minister of Environment, H.E. Eang Sophalleth, reiterated that Cambodia's commitment to fighting against climate change. He said:
At COP28, I announced that Cambodia is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 21.3 per cent by 2030. Cambodia is committed to renewable energy [use reaching] 70 per cent by 2030. Cambodia is committed to cancelling 700 MW of coal power generation, and Cambodia is committed to further making Cambodia clean.
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He added that the ministry's plastic cleaning initiative has received participation from 8.3 million people in Cambodia, which is more than half of the country's population.
“We will also continue working hard with the clean pillars of our strategy to make sure that by 2050 Cambodia will be clean,” concluded Sophalleth.
The Carbon Credit Federation Asia Pacific (CCF-APAC)
In his opening speech, Kevin W. Lee, Chairman of the W-Foundation, expressed his hope that the forum would act as “a melting pot of ideas, a hub for innovation, and a catalyst for action” where speakers and participants could “exchange groundbreaking research, discuss transformative policies and forge new partnerships”.
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“In this spirit of innovation and collaboration, I want to highlight a pioneering initiative that holds great promise – the Carbon Credit Federation Asia Pacific (CCF-APAC),” he added.
He described CCF-APAC as a collaborative body that acts as a platform for policymakers, financiers, corporations, civil society, and technology providers from the Asia Pacific to cooperate on developing innovative capacities for global climate solutions.
Fronting this initiative is H.E. Preap Kol, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister; Tan Sri Michael, President of KSI Strategic Institute For Asia Pacific; and Dato Dr. Jessie Tang, Director of KSI Strategic Institute For Asia Pacific and Chairwoman of Carbon Capital.
According to Lee, the federation will focus on certification and verification of voluntary carbon credits, project financing support, information exchange, educational programs, and capacity building.
With this frontier, we are looking at a sustainable low carbon future, as countries in the Asia Pacific are increasingly recognising carbon credits as a tool to achieve decarbonisation goals and adapt to policy changes.
Green Financing And Investment
The 2024 GCAF featured several presentation and discussion sessions on pressing climate issues across various sectors. One of the main topic highlights from these sessions focused on green financing and green investment.
Dana Barsky, Global Head of Sustainability at Standard Chartered, delivered a presentation where she emphasised the significant need for financing in Cambodia to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, sharing that the World Bank has estimated Cambodia will require USD $36 billion of funding to achieve its climate goals by that target year.
To do that Barsky stressed private sector involvement is crucial, as well as for the need to make ‘green’ projects bankable, while ensuring that capital is bring brought into the country in a responsible way that meets real needs.
She provided some examples of green financing sources that can have the potential to support Cambodia's sustainability ambitions:
- Green bonds;
- Adaptation bonds;
- Sustainability bonds;
- Conservation bonds;
- Blended finance;
- Carbon credits.
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Cambodian Climate Financing Facility (CCFF)
Muyhui Hong, Division Chief of the Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), gave a presentation on the Cambodian Climate Financing Facility (CCFF), which will be administered by the ARDB with Mekong Strategic Capital (MSC) providing acting as the co-executing entity.
She told B2B Cambodia:
CCFF is the first national vehicle climate fund under the Green Climate Fund (GCF), so it is a 100 million lending facility, which is strategically designed to provide wholesale funding to local financial institutions, as well as direct funding to climate projects that address climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation
The project is currently still in the preparation stage, with its funding proposal approved in March 2024, and an official launch prepared for the fourth quarter of 2024.
“ARDB worked with the development partner to access this fund, so it will firstly help farmers to transition their business-as-usual agriculture [systems] to modern and sustainable forms of agriculture, and in the process reduce carbon emissions,” added Muyhui.
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How Can Cambodia's Capital Markets Support Green Financing And Investment?
Min-Suk Lee, Vice President and Head of Global Strategy at the Korea Exchange, currently dispatched to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) to promote capital markets, delivered a presentation explaining how CSX can help to support green investment. He said that while the exchange is not directly involved in investment activities, it still tries to act as a facilitator of investments, assuming the role of the operator while fostering transparency and reliability through regulations.
The green bond market is one example, where the exchange provides a platforms for information on all available green bonds to be consolidated on one platform, making it easier for investors.
He pointed to the green and sustainability bonds issued by companies like Cellcard and stressed that they were made possible due to technical assistance and co-financing options jointly provided by the SERC, UNESCAP, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), and GuarantCo.
Lee further touched on the carbon credit exchange, which is growing in demand in countries like South Korea. He mentioned that there have been several occasions where the Ministry of Environment and SERC have wanted CSX to look into the feasibility of introducing the carbon credit market to Cambodia, with the CSX focusing mostly on the tech side.
This process is still ongoing and will require more tech development, particularly as methods of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for the creation of carbon credits is quite costly and complex, though vital for meeting climate action goals. Lee also pointed to how the blockchain technology behind the exchange can help to provide a secure way of keeping track of carbon credits, to prevent instances of double counting for example.
Another session of the GCAF also focused on introducing carbon credits into the Cambodia market through the establishment of a Security Token Offering (STO) Exchange, which is said to make the carbon credit trade accessible for individual investors.
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Notable International, National And Corporate Participation
The event was notably attended by several global institutions, including Standard Chartered, the Korea Coast Guard, Amazon, GGGI, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Swan & Maclaren Group, Coca-Cola, KC Group, NESTO, UI Networks, Cero Solution, KS Green, Heineken, Korea Exchange, Cambodia Association of Renewable Energy(C.A.R.E), Saint-Gobain, KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific, Meinhardt, Goldfame Group, SNV, Fauna & Flora, Chargeplus, USAID Conserve, Asia Platinum Capital Berhad, Carbon Vault Sdn Bhd, ADB, World Bank, Sambo Engineering, AIA, SBS, Verra, Korea University, Zuellig Pharma, JETRO, UNDP, National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), DFDL Law Asia, GreenX, River Venture Studio, Midori Climate Partner and more.