The Association, which draws together VC and private capital practitioners in Singapore, has formed a "climate solutions" committee to look at areas including investment opportunities. It is part of a wider trend concerning ESG investment and activity.

The Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association has formed a Climate Solutions Committee to encourage its network and the wider investment world to tackle climate change and investment opportunities.

The Committee will “seek to raise awareness on innovation trends and investment opportunities in climate solutions and will seek to share best practices on climate stewardship and social aspects of climate change adaptation,” the organisation said on its LinkedIn page.

Inaugural committee members include Melvyn Yeo, founder and managing partner at TRIREC, and Marie Cheong, founding partner at Wavemaker Impact. Co-chairs will be Sanjay Gujral, chief business officer, Everstone Group and Milena Nikolova, partner at Aera VC.

Explaining the move, the Association said that Southeast Asia is vulnerable to climate change, so it needs to change its policy in an equitable way. 

The organisation said that climate tech venture investing globally grew by more than 40 times over the 10 years to 2022 to $70 billion. 

“Climate tech venture investing is still at a very nascent stage in SE Asia and it is an underestimated investment opportunity that can bring significant positive outcomes. In addition to bringing focus to investing opportunities within climate tech, the committee will also bring focus on the role that private capital can play in the commercialisation and scaling up of proven technologies,” it said.