Closing the gap on sustainable finance and enabling green recovery through capacity building in CDP’s TCFD-aligned disclosures and the GRI standards

Southeast Asia is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and yet has witnessed one of the highest increases in carbon dioxide emissions. In the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, it will be critical for Indonesia and Thailand to maintain their resolve on meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and continue an economic shift to low carbon model. Pertinently, as climate change is affecting people’s livelihood such as access to food, clean water and basic needs, this economic recovery also presents us with the opportunity to align environmental initiatives with social inclusion of vulnerable and historically marginalised groups such as women, LGBT community, people with disability, ethnic minorities and indigenous people. Active participation from finance and real economy sectors is needed to match policy intervention and address current ambition gaps in meeting NDC commitments and embedding long term sustainability. A resilient, low carbon economic growth will also require increased transparency and high-quality disclosure under globally recognized sustainability reporting frameworks to unlock the potential and catalyse the shift in investment practices to green and sustainable finance. To improve participation from non-policy actors, Consortium Partners will deliver a capacity building programme in partnership with strategic local stakeholders such as BAPPENAS, ICSA and Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) for corporates and financial institutions in Indonesia and Thailand to: • address knowledge gaps in the financial implications and risk management of climate change; • establish environmental, social and governance (ESG) best practices for social inclusion and human rights; and • encourage the adoption of green and sustainable finance. Consortium partners are pioneers of climate and sustainability corporate disclosures and will build on their deep experience and strong relations with key stakeholders in Indonesia and Thailand notably: BAPPENAS, ICSA and SET to bridge current gaps that exist between local sustainable finance policies and SDG roadmaps, adoption of TCFD and corporate ESG frameworks, and accelerate the use of generated disclosure data within finance to catalyse low carbon and sustainable economic growth. Outcomes: i. Establishing an ecosystem that brings together policy, corporate ambition, and sustainable finance to enable cross-fertilization of ideas and networks that promote green recovery and meet NDC goals. ii. Financing needs identified by corporates disclosures through CDP’s TCFD-aligned platform and GRI Standards lead to demand-led growth for green and sustainable finance.