SINGAPORE – A global environmental non-profit has set up base in Singapore, in a boost to the country’s ambitions of becoming a green finance hub.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – headquartered in the United States – aims to raise the supply of high-quality carbon credits in the region and unlock more conservation projects in South-east Asia.

Carbon credits refer to permits that companies or countries can buy from, for example, a forest conservation project in Indonesia to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. Each credit represents one tonne of emissions.

TNC’s Singapore country director Thomas Brzostowski said: “Many companies and investors in Singapore want access to high-quality credits, but there’s just not enough out there, particularly from this part of the world.”

He noted that only about 16 per cent of global impact investments flow into the Asia-Pacific.

The South-east Asia Green Economy 2023 report, published in June, stated that an estimated US$400 billion (S$542 billion) of investments in nature are needed to meet the region’s 2030 climate goals.

South-east Asia needs to expedite its efforts to make the protection and restoration of nature economically competitive with exploitation, such as logging, and use market-based measures to put a price on nature and its carbon potential, the report said.

Formed in 1951, TNC has undertaken conservation projects in more than 70 countries and territories. It has protected more than 50 million hectares of land – about 700 times the size of Singapore. By 2030, it hopes to conserve land areas that amount to 9,000 times the size of the island state.

TNC’s expansion to the Republic was supported by the Economic Development Board. Its Singapore office at 63 Robinson Road has a staff of 15. It joins the likes of international conservation groups such as WWF-Singapore and BirdLife International, which have offices here.

TNC recently joined forces with seven other conservation-related organisations to form the South-east Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions (Scene) Coalition, which aims to drive investments and scale up nature-based solutions in the region.

Dr Brzostowski outlined three priorities for the coalition over the next three to five years: a virtual map-based tool to guide community frontliners, a portfolio of high-quality nature-based projects that can be emulated by others, and an incubator programme to support the frontliners in conservation projects. Community frontliners could include villagers or grassroots organisations that want to restore their peatlands and mangroves, for instance.

“But many of them lack seed funding to pay for initial feasibility studies or access to technology, or (don’t) understand how to complete the documentation needed for nature-based projects,” noted Dr Brzostowski.

The incubator programme will guide promising frontline communities in sharpening their projects across various stages – from feasibility studies to carbon sales. The coalition is refining the programme and is planning to start it in 2024.

“These grassroots organisations could be a turning point, which will hopefully lead to some exponential growth in the number of carbon projects or credits that come out of them,” he said.

Dr Lahiru Wijedasa, Asia forest coordinator at BirdLife International, which is part of the coalition, noted that nature-based carbon credits are lower in supply in this region, mainly due to regulatory reasons.

He explained: “As the nature-based solutions market has moved at a rapid pace in the past 10 years, countries have struggled to keep pace. But now in South-east Asia, the policies and regulations are becoming clearer. We should see a big increase in nature based-related credits in the coming years.

“That is where the role of Scene is critical: To be able to guide what high-quality carbon credits mean.”

On why TNC chose to expand to Singapore, Dr Brzostowski said: “Over the last few years we’ve been watching Singapore strengthen its status as a hub for climate action, nature-based solutions and carbon markets...That’s why we decided to launch a small team here to be part of the innovation, science and partnerships here.”