ASIAN philanthropists need to put more “risk-tolerant” money behind the region’s green ambitions, especially in support of blended finance, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) chief sustainability officer Gillian Tan.

The region has done “fairly well” in creating awareness of blended finance, but financing is still “badly needed” in areas such as the retirement of coal assets, she added.

“If we were to look at quantitative measures of success, such as blended finance volumes, I’m afraid it will be difficult to score us highly,” said Tan, who was speaking at the Philanthropy Asia Summit, a partner event of the sustainability conference Ecosperity, on Wednesday (Apr 17).