Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII)

10 November 2022 – The Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), a research organization that empowers fixed income investors to drive the climate transition, and Climate Smart Ventures (CSV), an advisory firm based in Singapore focused on corporate energy transition plans that shift coal assets to renewables, are excited to announce their Transition-Southeast Asia (T-SEA) partnership. 

T-SEA will develop compelling financing opportunities for corporates with ambitious plans to move to more sustainable operations, with an initial focus on the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Key to this will be to ensure funding is available through transition and sustainable finance structures, such as Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) and other labelled debt.   

T-SEA will proactively engage with and match global investors to potential corporate issuers with credible coal retirement targets that require financing to enable the transition. The partnership will work closely with corporate issuers from across Southeast Asia to design SLB and labelled debt structures that will both meet investor expectations and have the potential to deliver a lower cost of capital to corporates with ambitious and transparent carbon reduction plans.    

Justine Leigh-Bell, Executive Director, AFII: “AFII’s market practitioners’ approach combined with CSV’s track record for delivering successful transactions that advance Southeast Asia’s energy transition make this partnership a timely step in addressing the enormous funding gap for corporate decarbonisation in the region. 

“To reach global climate targets, financing needs to be made available to carbon-intensive industries to invest in their transition. T-SEA will help to ensure that the debt instruments are designed to deliver a meaningful transition. AFII’s research shows that ambitious SLBs have the potential to deliver a lower cost-of-capital to corporate issuers.”

Lawrence Ang, Managing Partner, CSV: “There is strong appetite in Southeast Asia among many corporates for alternative financing to support their move to clean energy, including active stewardship of their coal and fossil fuel assets towards an accelerated retirement. It is essential that these opportunities are funded and matched by motivated investors with similar goals in terms of sustainability and risk and returns. This is while ensuring workers and affected communities are not left behind by the transition.

“We’re excited about the potential of T-SEA to help create a way forward for companies that are serious about delivering on climate goals.”   

Media contact: 

Emma Thorpe

eth@anthropocenefii.org

+44 7909 974958

26 May, 2022, London/Geneva – The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) and the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII) have announced today their collaboration with an overarching objective to promote net-zero alignment in global fixed-income markets. 

Fixed income is an important asset class for institutional investors and this strategic collaboration will build on AFII’s technical knowledge and expertise to support NZAOA members decarbonise their investment portfolios.

AFII’s founder and CEO, Ulf Erlandsson, has been a long-standing advocate of empowering fixed income markets to drive the climate transition since his days as a credit portfolio manager at the Swedish pension fund AP4. This led Erlandsson to set up AFII with the aim to influence the investment decisions made by bond portfolio managers and traders that could change cost-of-capital in favour of a sustainable future.

AFII’s market practitioner’s approach to embedding positive climate impact across credit portfolios along with NZAOA members’ demonstrated leadership to achieve alignment with the Paris Agreement in their investment portfolios makes this collaboration a timely step in addressing blind spots in fixed-income markets.

Ulf Erlandsson, CEO, AFII: “We are extremely pleased to enter into this collaboration and look forward to the NZAOA members’ input into what are the most important issues for asset owners in driving fixed income climate impact. We seek for AFII’s insights and analysis to serve as a valuable and portfolio relevant resource for NZAOA members.”

Justine Leigh-Bell, Executive Director, AFII: “With the largest pools of capital in the world, asset owners have a unique role to play in driving the net-zero transition through portfolio re-alignment and targeted corporate engagement. We are committed to supporting the NZAOA members achieve their strategic objectives and look forward to our collaboration.”

Erik Bennike, Head of Credit, PensionDanmark: ”We are very pleased that the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance will enter into a closer cooperation with AFII, and we look forward to continue to have many useful dialogues and interactions. AFII’s focused approach to climate related issues in the fixed income markets with emphasis on hard cases fills a gap in the coverage of traditional ESG research providers that will be of great mutual benefit.”

Remco Fischer, UNEP FI Programme Officer for Climate and NZAOA Secretariat Co-Lead: “NZAOA members are very much looking forward to benefitting from the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute’s deep and technical knowledge regarding the decarbonisation of global fixed income portfolios. While listed equity markets are very much in focus in the engagement and the decarbonisation debate, fixed income is for most asset owners the key asset class for steering their investment portfolios to net-zero emissions.”