Asia at a crossroads of Sustainability
Asia will decide the future of sustainability. Why? Because three forces are converging right here:
- The money is flowing. In 2024, Asian companies issued over 145 billion dollars in sustainable bonds — almost a third of the global total.
- The pressure is rising. Investors, regulators, and customers alike are demanding action and transparency.
- The opportunity is massive. Asia’s middle class is young, digital, and climate-conscious.
But here’s the hard truth: billions in green finance will not be enough on their own. Real progress depends on people — the human multiplier of SMEs, customers, and employees making millions of choices every day. Because finance without people is finance without impact.
The Challenge: Finance Without Engagement
Billions are already flowing into green finance. That’s encouraging. But the harder part is making sure those billions translate into real human engagement and measurable impact.
And when I say people, I mean their active participation — not just box-ticking, not just bystanding. Real change means behavior shifts, habits, and culture.
Today, three barriers stand in the way:
- Low climate literacy
- No easy tools to act
- Reliance on proxies, not enough real data
👉 If we fail to engage, we risk a future where money flows… but emissions do not fall.
The Opportunity: Every Action Counts
The same scale, diversity, and urgency that make the challenge daunting also hold the key to the solution. Because here, everyone can act.
- Every SME can act. SMEs make up over 90% of Asia’s businesses, employing most of the workforce. With the right tools and incentives, they can shift from being the weakest link in the transition to becoming its strongest driver.
- Every customer can act. Banks already sit at the center of people’s financial lives. A banking app can double as a personal carbon manager — showing footprints, nudging greener choices, and linking to green products. Millions of small decisions, multiplied, create massive impact.
- Every employee can act. When people inside institutions are engaged — learning, taking pride, acting together — ambition turns into culture. Net-zero becomes a daily habit, not just a pledge.
👉 This is the opportunity: unlock the human multiplier of climate action. Turn finance from something abstract and top-down into something lived, measurable, and shared.
The Enabler: Knowledge, Tools, and Data
So how do we unlock the human multiplier? Not with more reports or frameworks. The enablers are simpler: knowledge, tools, and data — at scale.
- Knowledge. Climate literacy is the foundation of engagement. When people understand their impact, they move from bystanders to active participants.
- Tools. Awareness isn’t enough. SMEs need quick emissions calculators. Customers need carbon managers in their apps. Employees need gamified challenges that build habits.
- Data. For banks, financed emissions — especially from SMEs — make up the largest share of Scope 3. Perfect data won’t come tomorrow, but better data can start today. Transaction-based tools give SMEs insights and give banks the reporting, risk management, and financing precision they need.
👉 Knowledge, tools, and data — accessible, engaging, and localized. That is how we turn financial flows into measurable action.
The Call to Action: Financing the Transition, Today
So in summary:
- The challenge is real — finance without people is finance without impact.
- The opportunity is clear — SMEs, customers, and employees can all be part of the solution.
- And the enablers are ready — knowledge, tools, and data that make action measurable and scalable.
The question is: will we act fast enough?
Southeast Asia doesn’t have the luxury of time. The storms, the heat waves, the floods — they’re already here. But so are the solutions.
This is where banks, institutions, and leaders come in:
- Give SMEs the tools to measure and manage their emissions.
- Put carbon insights into the hands of every customer.
- Turn employees into climate champions who multiply your strategy through culture.
Since Asia will decide the future of sustainability, we must get this right. And we cannot forget the people — their engagement is what creates real impact.
Last week, Deedster had the honor of participating in the 5th Asia Finance Forum, hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). During the conference, we got to highlighted our scalable solutions for bridging sustainability gaps in the region and reinforcing the message that engaging people, SMEs, customers, and employees, is critical to turning financial flows into real climate impact.
By Monika Martinsson, Co-Founder of Deedster
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