Singapore and Geneva: two routes to sustainable finance

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Geneva and Singapore have both made sustainable finance a strategic field, from different starting points and with different instruments. The Geneva volume shows a centre whose claim rests on a long tradition of moral scrutiny of credit, on the presence of the United Nations organisations responsible for climate and development and on a community of private banks and asset managers that were early to offer thematic funds. Sustainability-related investments in Switzerland amounted to CHF 1,881 billion in 2024. Swiss regulation has favoured transparency and self-regulation: a climate reporting ordinance for large companies since 1 January 2024, voluntary Swiss Climate Scores and self-regulation of banks and asset managers on client preferences and sustainable products.¹

Singapore relies more on the state. MAS acts as regulator, investor, grant-maker and sponsor of blended finance vehicles in which it commits its own capital. The government levies a carbon tax that rises on a published path and concludes treaties for the purchase of carbon credits. The taxonomy is the product of an industry taskforce convened by the authority. Where Geneva convenes, through the Building Bridges summit and the international organisations, Singapore structures and finances.

The two centres also differ in their clientele. Geneva’s sustainable finance is shaped by private wealth and by the demands of European clients and distributors, which bring European classifications into Swiss practice. Singapore’s is shaped by the needs of Asian borrowers in energy, industry and infrastructure, which explains the emphasis on transition and coal. Both centres share an exposure created by commodity trading. Geneva’s traders and Singapore’s trading houses, many of them the same firms, handle oil, gas and coal as well as the metals the transition requires.

Hong Kong is the more direct competitor. It has issued government green bonds, published its own taxonomy and introduced climate disclosure aligned with the international standards, positioning itself as the green finance gateway for mainland China.² Singapore’s distinctive claim against Hong Kong lies in its regional reach across Southeast and South Asia and in transition finance. The broader competition between the centres is examined in Chapter K.III.

In figures

US$2 billion: MAS Green Investments Programme (11 November 2019). S$15 million: grants for sustainable and transition bonds and loans until end-2028. S$24.5 billion: GSSSL bonds issued in Singapore in 2021 and 2022. Over S$27 billion: GSSSL loans originated in Singapore in 2025. 8 sectors and 3 categories: Singapore-Asia Taxonomy (3 December 2023). S$5, S$25, S$45: carbon tax per tonne in 2019–2023, 2024–2025 and 2026–2027, with S$50–80 targeted by 2030. About 50 facilities and around 70 per cent of national emissions covered by the carbon tax. 5 per cent: maximum share of taxable emissions offsettable by international credits. Up to US$500 million: Singapore’s concessional pledge to FAST-P, which aims to catalyse up to US$5 billion. US$800 million: total participation in the Green Investments Partnership after its second close. Over 9,200: professionals trained under the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map since April 2024.³

Notes

Ressos, Genève, place financière internationale, chapter K.II, section “Les chiffres”, citing the Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study 2025 of Swiss Sustainable Finance: CHF 1,881 billion of sustainability-related investments in Switzerland in 2024, an increase of 13 per cent. — Ressos, Genève, place financière internationale, chapter K.II, section on the federal framework: climate reporting ordinance in force on 1 January 2024, Swiss Climate Scores launched in June 2022 and updated on 8 December 2023, self-regulation of the Swiss Bankers Association and the Asset Management Association Switzerland. ↩
Hong Kong Government Green Bond Programme; Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance published by the HKMA in May 2024; HKEX climate disclosure requirements aligned with IFRS S2 from 1 January 2025. ↩
Figures as cited in the footnotes to this chapter, from MAS media releases of 11 November 2019, 20 April 2023, 3 December 2023 and 24 June 2026, MAS Sustainability Reports 2022/2023 and 2025/2026, and the carbon tax pages of NCCS and NEA (accessed November 2026). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

All Singapore law advice is provided through KGP Legal LLC, an established and duly licensed firm of Singapore advocates and solicitors.

KGP Legal LLC is a medium-sized law firm in Singapore that is capable of providing the full range of legal services and corporate administration work. Please contact me directly at [email protected] if you need any further information.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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