Hey, there was a major event this week—the very first Investor Roundtable on Sustainable Finance—and it was a huge team effort!
The Securities and Exchange Regulator (SERC) teamed up with the UN (ESCAP), the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and a couple of guarantee funds (CGIF and CGCC) to host the event at the Hyatt Regency. All the big players, including the SERC’s Director General H.E. Sou Socheat, were there to lead the charge.
The Problem We’re Facing
The main reason for the meeting is a serious one: Cambodia is already dealing with major climate change problems, even though we don’t contribute much to global pollution. The experts estimate that if we don’t invest enough in protecting the country, climate impacts could shrink Cambodia’s entire GDP by nearly 10% by 2050! That’s a huge deal.
The government is trying to fix this by setting ambitious goals, like cutting greenhouse gas emissions by over 41% by 2030 and aiming for net-zero carbon by 2050.
The Goal of the Roundtable
Achieving those huge climate goals is going to cost a ton of money—money that has to come from the private sector. The current issue is that many great “green” projects can’t find investors or banks willing to fund them.
That’s exactly why they held this roundtable: to close that investment gap. The goal was to connect developers who have these awesome green and social projects directly with investors and financial institutions.
H.E. Sou Socheat from the SERC promised the government is serious about this. He said, “We share a commitment with our investors to make sure projects are trustworthy, up to international standards, and won’t commit ‘greenwashing’” (that’s when a company pretends to be more green than it really is). He wants the capital market to be transparent so investors can put their money into climate projects with confidence.
What’s Next?
Ms. Deanna Morris from ESCAP said this meeting grew out of a report they wrote, and she believes this is just the beginning. She hopes it will grow into an annual platform where hundreds of people meet, real deals are shaped, and money flows into projects that actually help the climate.
Ms. Nathalie André from GGGI added that transparency and following international “green” standards are vital, especially to attract outside investors. She thinks the new Green Bond framework is a great way to unlock serious international financing, which will help Cambodia meet its climate targets and grow its economy.
The event even included a “Green Finance Pitch Session” where companies presented their ready-to-go green projects to investors—a little bit like an eco-friendly Shark Tank!