The ADFIAP institute conducted a 5-day Study Tour Program (STP) on Green Finance: Pathways and Opportunities for Financial Institutions on 13-17 November 2023. The program was conceptualized to support the global move of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and limit global warming to 1.5°C level as well as the global goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Designed to make the course interactive and interesting for all the participants, the STP consisted of lecture discussions, case presentations, and site visits to selected green projects. Topics presented and discussed consisted of Basic Transitions Finance, Climate Transition Pathways, and Opportunities for the Energy, Building and Transport sectors. The role of financial institutions as well as financing challenges were also taken up. Also included in the course were Design Thinking exercises which provided the participants the tool in group analysis to understand climate issues and root causes and identify pathways and activities to address the causes to effect doable and realistic changes.
The lecture discussions were led by ADFIAP Finance and Investment Center (AFIC) experts on sustainable energy finance and green development Nanette Biason and Tess Lacerna. Other resource persons who made the STP an insightful and stimulating learning experience included Ana Patricia Mariano (E-transport Project Manager, GIZ), Jo Ann Eala (VP for Sustainability Office, Bank of the Philippine Islands), Pearl Mars (Specialist, Climate Business Department, International Finance Corporation) and Arch. Emelito Punsalan (Chairperson, GREEEN Rating System, Philippine Green Building Institute).
The participants from Cambodia, India, and the Philippines were able to visit Imperial Homes’ Via Verde in Trece Martires, Cavite for its solar-powered low-cost housing, and Arthaland’s Century Pacific Tower for its residential and commercial portfolio 100% certified as sustainable by local and global organizations. Also visited was the Wind Farm in Pililia, Rizal. The site visits provided the foothold in the preparation of innovative case studies as the culminating activity of the program.
