Temasek Trust and UNDP collaborate to drive next frontier of SDG-aligned investment in Southeast Asia
New York – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has established a new collaboration with Temasek Trust to mobilize private capital to generate positive social and sustainability outcomes in Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) through the awareness, adoption, and application of UNDP SDG Impact Standards, SDG Investor Maps, and SDG Investor Platform in the region.
Temasek Trust will serve as the anchor partner for UNDP’s SDG Finance initiative SDG Impact in Asia, so that the SDG Impact tools can be tailored to the region in a way that is useful and relevant to the Asian context. Temasek Trust has been actively involved in the development process of the SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds and collaborated with their impact fund, ABC World Asia, to pilot the Standards and to provide essential input and feedback to UNDP.
“SDG Impact’s collaboration with Temasek Trust will enable the development of SDG Investor Maps that will provide a rich inventory of impact business models and investment opportunity areas that align with the SDGs in ASEAN countries. SDG Impact will also partner Temasek Trust in launching the new UNDP SDG Impact Standards and rolling out training and technical assistance to funds, firms and governments interested in applying the Standards in the ASEAN region,” Said Fabienne Michaux, Director of UNDP’s SDG Impact.
“Temasek Trust’s aspirations to establish impact investing as a lever for sustainability and the UNDP SDG Impact’s plans for scaling up its services and reach in Asia present a fortuitous collaboration opportunity to reach common goals,” said Cheo Hock Kuan, CEO of Temasek Trust. “UNDP and Temasek Trust’s collaboration will allow for the pooling of strengths and cross-leveraging of capacities between the partners.”
The partnership will also make it possible to provide capacity development in leading impact measurement and management practice to investment practitioners in the region. Plans are also being made for a series of forums to convene investors interested in impact and achieving the SDGs.
“Asia Pacific has been pioneering the use of SDG Impact’s Impact Measurement and Management approaches and Standards that have now become essential ingredients of our engagements with private sector. We’ve piloted SDG Investor Maps in China and India and are looking forward to a deeper engagement in ASEAN countries through this partnership with Temasek Trust,” said Jaco Cilliers, Chief of Regional Policy and Programme Support at the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub.