The Monetary Authority of Singapore has set aside about 2% of its equities portfolio or just over S$8 billion ($6 billion) to a climate transition program.
“Our approach to climate portfolio actions is to start small, learn fast, and scale up as new data provide greater clarity,” MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said at a media briefing on Wednesday. “Bolstering the climate resilience of MAS’ investment portfolio remains a work-in-progress.”
Singapore’s central bank allocated funds to two equity climate indices — one off-the-shelf and one bespoke — and intends to scale up the amount over time, it said in its annual sustainability report released Wednesday. Under the program, MAS will increase exposure to companies that are less carbon-intensive and more aligned with the transition.
MAS said it may settle on one or two climate indices for the long-term after the pilot, and is looking to tilt its corporate bonds portfolio toward less carbon-intensive companies.
“The reason we are doing it small is because the track record of climate indices is not well established,” said Menon. “But over time, we will have to scale this up if you want to make the portfolio climate resilient.”
MAS has completed its divestment of companies with more than 10% revenues from thermal coal mining and oil sands activities, it said in its report. It has fully deployed $2 billion of funds under its green investment program, it added.
The weighted average carbon intensity of corporate bonds in MAS’ portfolio rose over the past year due to investments in the utilities sector, according to the report.
--With assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen.
(Updates from third paragraph with further details and comment from Menon.)
