A Spotlight on the Global Climate Economy

[Music] good morning again ladies and gentlemen I'm delighted to be here back at Abu Dhabi sustainable Finance Forum but this time I'm here for a slightly different reason and really looking forward to share with you some outcomes just before we talked about cop 28 clma Finance as a whole but I'm not thrill to shift the focus to something that has been core to the success of the global climate Finance Center Partnerships and I can think of a better example of this great work than HSBC who has been a big of supporter of gcfc from day one in fact we went public with them at cop 28 it was one of our funding members and very soon will become one of our Bo members HSBC has also Al been a leader in climate Finance here in the region but also globally and we look forward to working with HSBC particularly on transition Finance now joining me for this conversation let me introduce you to Sabrine Rahman managing director and head of corporate sustainability minat at HSBC Sabrine welcome it's such a pleasure to have you here with us let's start with a big picture we don't have that much time um we know that Regional collaboration is essential to promote sustainable Finance here in the Middle East and clearly globally but how do you see these efforts addressing Global challenges like climate change or resource scarcity thank you Mercedes for having me and your excellencies um distinguished guests good morning I think it's fair to say and and we've heard this message over and over again that to tackle some of the most existential crises of our time no one part can do it themselves and Partnerships whether it's with philanthropies with intergovernmental agencies with our clients these are absolutely critical for an organization such as ourselves to help contribute more systematically um and I think that if you look at what we've done with our peers for example in helping create industry standards for uh with G fans um is is one example what we're doing with the global climate Finance Center is another really trying to mobilize um not only financial flows but raising the the best practice uh sort of examples and what better place in this region to help lead the way uh for HSBC we have been in the region for over 70 years we're 160 year old Banks so we've seen many of these Transitions and revolutions um sort of happening but it is the biggest opportunity commercially of our time and we have a colleague later on who will share some some specific examples um but at the endend of the day we're here to help create public good um we're here to help distribute prosperity to what Ambassador marid was saying earlier and we can't do that without solid Partnerships indeed and one key example perhaps um the work that we did at C 29 where we brought together different members of gcfc HSBC clearly being one of them and we explain what is it that we were doing here in Abu Dhabi the UAE around build that entire ecosystem on climate Finance now let me move into something a little bit more specific we talked earlier as well with his Excellency Ambassador majit aledi on different type of uh Innovative Financial products and models um one of the challenges that we often see and hear is De risking investments in in Emerging Markets uh sabrino in your view how can tools like Blended finance and impact investing could help unlock capitals for sustainability and projects um and build very importantly this investor confidence so I think the the discussion on Blended Finance has really hit fever pitch um whether it's at platforms like cop um or even amongst the ecosystem here in the UAE over the last two weeks there's been an incredible amount of discussions on how to De risk how to accelerate flow and how to also promote um investor uh confidence so a lot of the work that HSBC has been doing both here in the Middle East but also in um across a lot of the other markets that we have Footprints in is really to design and co-create um Innovative mechanisms so for example at cop 29 we um announced our further partnership as uh as a part of the fast p uh program of Singapore uh which is The Greening investment uh platform platform really designed to help accelerate the $5 billion required for Asia's energy transition I think Blended Finance is still quite nent in in the Middle East and in this region but Egypt is making some some very very strong movements on that and they are the the most active market right now um but I think this this is an incredibly exciting area and more and more institutional commercial um entities are leaning in because they are are very very um supportive of this area and as more government and public financing is being allocated so for example for the Just Energy transition programs in Vietnam and Indonesia we're seeing a huge amount of allocation from um public sources and that gives investor confidence that gives institutional confidence that yes we will down the line have a pipeline of bankable projects that is risk-managed indeed and that in fact one of our KY is at gcfc at the global climate Finance Center looking at transition Finance carbal Market but very important the risking mechanisms now shifting gear and talking more about financial institutions HSBC has been at the Forefront of integrating ESG H into into your business model but how do you see institutions like yours evolving that work uh and what role does international cooperation plays in accelerating the shift I think the transition that our institution has been on is very similar to to many others in this room um and it's it's really that understanding of what our key levers are to influence change um and for us as one of the world's largest financial institutions we have three core areas that we feel we can really influence um one it's being that partner for transition for our clients um we have millions of clients across a variety of sectors and geographies who are all facing the same challenges and they really need that partnership element to help mobilize their commitments and and their promise to their investors the second is really catalyzing the new economy so we've often spoken about the fact that capital is not flowing to where it's needed and that's not only a geographical issue but it's a sectoral issue as well um we have a lot of new climate technology options out there but they are not at commercial scale scale yet so that's why a lot of what we do is so complimentary to the the ethos of gcfc because if we don't have commercial um players crowding in to really support these early stage Tech um and climate companies we will never see that acceleration that's required and the third is really on focusing on supply chain so we are the world's largest Trade Bank but in saying that we also have an incredible amount of supplies in our supply chain and and we are really leveraging that so for example we work very very closely with Walmart um to support their gigaton project which has really incentivized Financial products and services for their suppliers who are able to adhere to Walmart's um uh sort of uh targets for for their supply chain so there's a lot that we can do using our products our services our influence um and and what's fascinating now is that you know ESG and sustainability is becoming more and more of a political topic it's not something that is only um considered by the private sector and something that's that's quite heartening is to see the new round of ndc's that are being tabled and many of them have very Sound Investment road maps that are supporting them and I think that's absolutely critical because a lot of these this planning was done in Silo in the past and we're seeing that acceleration and shift now to crowding in the real economy indeed then we can see as well here in the region great amount of work happening but very much ad hoc and un coordinated so the need of that collaboration and that platform I think we have a bit more time for one last uh question Serene I love to hear your views about Regional and Global collaboration and Partnerships driving Innovation particularly in the financial services Market how can we scale these models to have the bigger impact look I think we need to first start telling the story better of the region right um and and we're too shy about the good things we are we are and Mercedes and I had the the the pleasure of working together at cop 28 and that really was such a fantastic platform for us to start creating and owning our own narrative from this region I've worked in this space for close to 20 years um in the UAE and the moment really is now um The Innovation we're seeing in in in the way we partner um we have Regulators speaking the same language as uh the private sector we have government entities who are working alongside us this is an unparallel level of cooperation um and I think we need to you know start accelerating and welcoming International Players to to both the UAE and Abu Dhabi but also to the broader broader region um I think often we under sell the commercial opportunities here um and I think that through the Partnerships that we've had particularly with gcfc and and through a lot of the other Legacy initiatives from cop 28 um whether it be on regenerative agriculture whether it's on really scaling other pools of capital such as Islamic Finance for adaptation projects um really promoting the the leadership that this region is taking on promoting the blue economy these are this is a narrative that the rest of the world hasn't often heard of so I think Partnerships are really our proof points they are showcasing what is possible we have some great outcomes that we should be um sharing more systematically and I think you know at the different climate weeks at the various cop conferences we are getting there um and the the dinner that we co-hosted at cop 29 saw an incredible amount of Interest right um so we had members from the White House we had the Bezos Earth fund um we had obviously a lot of the the UAE um clients and stakeholders but it really was that convening of east and west uh because honestly the future is now pivoting to the east so it's an incredibly exciting time and and I think for HSBC we're leaning in as much as possible to help support that indeed and what's coming after Abu Dhabi Finance week ladies and gentlemen is Abu Dhabi sustainability week taking place on the third week of January where gcfc in collaboration with its Partners will organize its annual meeting so we wait uh we look forward to having you attend that one as well and I think Sabrine that's a great place to end our conversation thank you so much for your leadership your expertise and many thanks again to the organizers of the Abu Dhabi sustainable Finance forum for giving us some time to discuss all of it thank you [Applause] [Music]