OCBC Bank and MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX), a digital green exchange licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, have announced a strategic partnership to develop new green financing solutions aimed at accelerating large corporates’ journey to carbon neutrality.
Scheduled to be launched later this year, these financing solutions will include tokenised carbon credits in the form of MVGX’s Carbon Neutrality Tokens (CNT™s), for large corporates to offset their carbon emissions, simplifying their path to carbon neutrality. An independent party will verify the expected carbon emissions from projects utilising these financing solutions, to calculate the corresponding carbon credits required.
MVGX’s CNT™s are supported by MVGX’s proprietary Non-Fungible Digital Twin (NFDT™) distributed ledger technology that provides corporates a verifiable, immutable and constantly updated record of the carbon performance of the climate-action projects that they have invested in through these digital carbon credits.
The partnership comes at an opportune time when carbon credits are becoming an increasingly popular solution for corporates after they have explored other decarbonisation options to achieve carbon neutrality. This is particularly important for companies in hard-to-abate industries such as shipping, steel and energy. By purchasing carbon credits, corporates are also investing in green projects such as reforestation and renewable energy that contribute to future decarbonisation. The Institute of International Finance’s Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets estimates that the global demand for carbon credits could increase fifteen-fold by 2030.
The ability to properly account for and track carbon credits under existing systems has resulted in challenges that have prevented uptake and impact at scale, such as double counting and the difficulties involved with cross-border carbon trading. The CNT™s provided in the new green financing solutions can mitigate these challenges by providing businesses with a reliable and accurate view of their emissions and offsets.
Ms Elaine Lam, Head, Global Corporate Banking, OCBC Bank, said: “With the recently released report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there will be increased urgency in corporates’ transition to a low carbon future by cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. We hope to accelerate these efforts by providing financing solutions with tokenised carbon credits, and expand the reach of private sector finance in areas and sectors most crucial in mitigating climate change.”
This partnership underscores the Bank’s commitment to combating climate change and supporting customers in their journey to carbon neutrality, by seizing growth opportunities in green and sustainable financing. By end-2021, the Bank had extended over $34 billion in sustainable financing to customers, surpassing its original target of S$25 billion by 2025 four years ahead of schedule. A new target of S$50 billion in sustainable financing commitments by 2050 has been established.
Commenting on the company’s landmark partnership, MVGX Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Bo Bai, said: “Despite the best intentions, governments and businesses around the world have come to realise the limitations of the current systems for tracking and neutralising carbon emissions. Thankfully, there is now a greater urgency to embrace new solutions that leverage technology to promote carbon reduction and finance green initiatives. By joining forces with Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank, we have the opportunity to advance our sustainability ambitions and fast-track our nation’s goal of achieving Singapore’s 2030 Green Plan. We are excited to be building the bridge between green investments in traditional finance and the global carbon trading markets of the future through green digital assets.”
Last year, MVGX launched its first batch of CNT™s ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. These asset-backed tokens were tied to carbon credits generated by a wind project in Zhangjiakou, China that was verified and registered with China’s National Carbon Registry. The first tranche of 5,000 carbon credits was sold to a Hong Kong-based private equity firm last year, lowering barriers to access ESG assets for retail and institutional investors in Asia Pacific.
About OCBC Bank
OCBC Bank is the longest established Singapore bank, formed in 1932 from the merger of three local banks, the oldest of which was founded in 1912. It is now the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets and one of the world’s most highly-rated banks, with Aa1 by Moody’s and AA- by both Fitch and S&P. Recognised for its financial strength and stability, OCBC Bank is consistently ranked among the World’s Top 50 Safest Banks by Global Finance and has been named Best Managed Bank in Singapore by The Asian Banker.
OCBC Bank and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of commercial banking, specialist financial and wealth management services, ranging from consumer, corporate, investment, private and transaction banking to treasury, insurance, asset management and stockbroking services.
OCBC Bank’s key markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China. It has more than 430 branches and representative offices in 19 countries and regions. These include over 200 branches and offices in Indonesia under subsidiary Bank OCBC NISP, and over 60 branches and offices in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR under OCBC Wing Hang.
OCBC Bank’s private banking services are provided by its wholly-owned subsidiary Bank of Singapore, which operates on a unique open-architecture product platform to source for the best-in-class products to meet its clients’ goals.
OCBC Bank’s insurance subsidiary, Great Eastern Holdings, is the oldest and most established life insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia. Its asset management subsidiary, Lion Global Investors, is one of the largest private sector asset management companies in Southeast Asia.
For more information, please visit www.ocbc.com.
About MetaVerse Green Exchange
MVGX is the first regulated exchange for the metaverse era, with licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore including Recognized Market Operator license, Capital Market Service License for dealings in securities, and collective investment schemes, providing custodial services, as well as exempted licenses under the Payment Services Act.
MVGX is committed to bridging crypto assets with traditional financial industries, bridging carbon trading markets from different jurisdictions, and bridging illiquid assets in real economy with wider investor accessibility.
Founded in 2018 and based in Singapore, MVGX has built a world-class digital exchange platform with the best-in-class Nasdaq engines, MVGX proprietary digital asset ledger with carbon footprint tag, and rigorous compliance processes.
MVGX has two patent-pending technologies, Non-Fungible Digital Twin (NFDT™) to represent objects in the metaverse, and Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT™) to facilitate cross-border trading of carbon voluntary emission reduction credits without triggering national ownership issues (Nationally Determined Contributions).
MVGX – the exchange that makes a sustainable and greener future in the metaverse era.