Our Work in Singapore
TNC's presence in Singapore will help scale up conservation impact across the Asia Pacific region and around the world.
Overview
A heathy and thriving Asia Pacific is essential to ensuring a sustainable future for both people and nature. In late 2022, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) established a program in Singapore as a global center for innovation, partnerships and science to help scale up conservation and climate impact in the region.
TNC supports the Government's climate and sustainability aspirations and its ambition to strengthen Singapore's position as:
- A global hub for green finance;
- An innovator in carbon services, and;
- A leader in climate action, particularly around nature-based solutions (NbS) to address climate change.
TNC is partnering with other environmental non-profit organizations in Singapore to pool resources, share knowledge and create partnerships. For example, TNC joined seven other NGOs to form the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solution (SCeNe) Coalition* to accelerate and scale up nature-based solution projects across the region.
Since the inaugural meeting of TNC's Asia Pacific Council in August 2000, with Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and business leader, conservationist, and statesman Hank Paulson as co-chairs, TNC has deepened its engagement in the Asia Pacific region. The organization has delivered impact through private-public partnerships and engagement with communities and leaders. Read more about our work in our Asia Pacific Annual Report.
*The SCeNe coalition comprises eight locally based environmental and conservation non-profits across Southeast Asia, namely BirdLife International, Conservation International, IDH-the Sustainable Trade Initiative, Mandai Nature, TNC, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature, Singapore, and Yayasan Institut Sumber Daya Dunia (WRI Indonesia).
Did You Know?
Singapore's First Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was a Founding Co-Chair of TNC's Asia Pacific Council alongside Hank Paulson. In an inaugural meeting address, he said: "I believe the time has come for Asia's governments, business leaders, NGOs and blue chip organizations like The Nature Conservancy to forge partnerships to tackle Asia's most pressing concern, the environment—a global concern."
Our Priorities
TNC is the go-to environmental organization for Asia’s change agents seeking innovative, inclusive, scalable solutions grounded in science. In Singapore, we are focused on four overarching priorities:
Catalyze NbS and Carbon Markets
In 2017, TNC led a landmark study that showed how nature-based solutions (NbS)—the conservation and restoration of forests, mangroves, grasslands etc.—can provide 33% of the carbon savings needed by 2030 to keep average global temperatures below 1.5° C.
Since this research, there has been a surge in interest from governments, communities and businesses to unlock the full potential of NbS to offset carbon footprints and meet climate goals. This investment in NbS has the added benefit of protecting communities from climate-related emergencies such as storm surges, extreme rainfall, wildfires and sea-level rise.
TNC will bring our global and regional expertise in NbS and carbon markets to Singapore to support the growth of a high-integrity market for NbS carbon credits in Southeast Asia and beyond that deliver triple benefits for people, nature and the climate. Businesses and other key institutions in Singapore have made it clear that increasing the supply of high-quality carbon credits from NbS projects is a top priority. And so these efforts will not only help Singapore achieve its emission reduction goals but its also key to building a robust carbon market.
A key focus of TNC in Singapore will be driving the work of the recently formed SCeNe Coalition, initiated by Mandai Nature.
Research Collaborations
As a science-based organization, TNC has more than 400 scientists on staff in diverse areas of expertise and partners with universities worldwide to deliver high-quality science.
Singapore is home to world-class academic and research institutions. We are looking forward to joining forces with these institutions to collaborate on studies that will improve our understanding of nature’s role in addressing climate change and protecting people and enable us to accelerate the deployment of Nature-based Solutions across Asia Pacific.
Innovate Impact Finance Solutions
According to ground-breaking analysis by the Paulson Institute, TNC and Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability, there is a financing gap of over US$700 billion each year to address the global biodiversity crisis. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that tackling change will require over US$3 trillion annually over the coming decade.
TNC seeks to bridge the gap between the urgent need to increase climate and conservation funding across the Asia Pacific region and the growing interest from private sector investors and companies to deliver environmental and social outcomes while generating financial returns. TNC has long been a leader in developing innovative financial solutions to conservation problems.
TNC sees a large opportunity to develop and collaborate on investable products and help raise investment capital for conservation through NatureVest—our impact investing team focused on sourcing and structuring investment products that support TNC’s mission at scale.
TNC's presence in Singapore will help expand NatureVest and other impact-investing products in the Asia Pacific region. We will build a robust pipeline of transactions that deliver both financial and positive conservation returns for companies, foundations and individual investors.
TNC will also share its expertise in a broader suite of financial solutions including debt restructuring and insurance to support Singapore’s climate and ESG goals.
Support Regional Corporate Partnerships
Singapore is home to companies with a global footprint and an ability to influence land use, conservation and climate change within and beyond the region.
Forming strong collaborations with the private sector, including the financial sector, has long been a core TNC conservation strategy. With decades of experience and as a science-based organization, TNC is a trusted partner of the private sector to help them understand their impacts on natural resources and provide guidance on how to integrate sustainability into business models, create more resilient supply chains and develop financial mechanisms that can help fund the transition to more responsible production.
TNC will seek to develop partnerships to support the private sector, particularly trading companies and the finance sector, to address commodity-driven land conversion in Southeast Asia, especially around palm oil originating in Indonesia.
Quote: The Late Lee Kuan Yew
"Man's ingenuity is threatening our survival...Hence we have to encourage all efforts at preserving the environment, whether by the UN or through voluntary organizations like The Nature Conservancy."
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