Global ESG Summit 2023 - APAC Edition
Virtual | Putting ESG credit risks into context
Fossil fuel-driven growth exposes the Asia-Pacific region to acute carbon transition risk. Investors, businesses and regulators are treading a delicate balance between economic growth and transition considerations on the path to net zero. The regional sustainable finance market has expanded rapidly in recent years, and the transition funding needs remain large.
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Agenda09.35SGT
Fireside chat: Asia’s surging sustainable finance market supports sustainable development amid challenges
- What is the role of finance in meeting Asia’s sustainable development objectives?
- Will the emergence of different taxonomies and standards accelerate or complicate the region’s net zero transition?
- How can Asia scale its green and sustainable debt markets, while ensuring market integrity?
10.10SGT -
SpeakersHELGE MUENKEL Chief Sustainability Officer DBS Bank
Eric Nietsch, CFA Head of Sustainable Investing, Asia Manulife Investment Management
Yuki Yasui Managing Director, Asia Pacific Network Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)
Michael West Chief Executive Officer Moody's Ratings
Wendy Cheong Managing Director – Regional Head of APAC Moody's Ratings
Ray Tay Executive Director, Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings
John Wang Vice President – Senior Analyst, Sustainable Finance Thought Leadership Moody's Ratings
Rahul Ghosh Managing Director, Global Sustainable Finance & Emerging Markets Moody’s Ratings
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Michael West is Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s Ratings.
Prior to his appointment in 2019, he held several leadership roles at Moody’s, including Managing Director – Head of Moody’s Ratings and Research from 2016 to 2019. He also served as Managing Director – Head of Global Structured Finance from 2014 to 2016 and Managing Director – Head of Global Corporate Finance from 2010 to 2014.
Earlier in his career, Michael led research strategy for Moody’s ratings businesses and before that led Corporate Finance for the EMEA region, European corporates and the EMEA leveraged finance business. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1998, Michael worked at Bank of America and HSBC in various credit roles.
Michael has a bachelor’s degree in politics with economics and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in the U.K.
Helge is the Chief Sustainability Officer at DBS. He is responsible for developing DBS’ overarching sustainability framework and driving ESG initiatives across the bank. He also chairs the DBS Sustainability Council, which comprises senior leaders across business and support units.
Prior to joining DBS, Helge was Head of Asia Pacific, Sustainable Finance and Global Capital Markets at ING, where he worked for 10 years. In this role, he successfully grew the bank's regional business of sustainability-related advisory services and sustainable finance transactions across products. He was also part of ING’s global Sustainable Finance and Capital Markets management teams as well as the bank’s global Sustainable Finance Quality Board. Before that, he spent more than 12 years in various roles at Deutsche Bank AG and UniCredit Group being based in different cities across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.
He also represents DBS in several global and regional working groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Industry Advisory Panel of the ASEAN’s Joint Sustainable Finance Working Group and the MAS-convened Green Finance Industry Taskforce. He is also appointed as alternate director in Climate Impact X Pte Ltd, a Singapore based global carbon market and exchange.
Helge holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Munich University (major in Developing Economics) as well as a postgraduate degree in sustainability from Cambridge University. He is also a CFA charter holder.
Wendy Cheong is Managing Director and Regional Head of Asia Pacific (APAC) for Moody’s Ratings, as well as CEO of Moody’s Ratings, Singapore. In this role, she leads on the development and execution of regional strategies and geographic initiatives across APAC, including ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory changes and expanding the company’s presence and business activities.
Wendy also serves as Executive Board Member for all Moody’s Ratings entities in APAC as well as Non-Executive Director for its domestic rating agency affiliates in China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam. Wendy also represents the region as a member of Moody’s Corporation’s Global Operating Committee.
Throughout her 16-year tenure at Moody’s, Wendy has held various global and regional roles in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, including as Chief of Staff to Moody’s global President/ CEO and Head of Strategy for APAC.
Prior to joining Moody’s, she held senior positions in strategy, sales and marketing at Prudential PLC and SingTel.
Wendy is committed to philanthropy and gender equality. She had served on the Board of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network from 2020 to 2023 and was global executive sponsor of Moody’s Women’s Business Resource Group, championing initiatives that empower women in the workplace.
Wendy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore.
Based in Singapore, Eric is responsible for setting the ESG research, integration, and active ownership agenda in Asia. In his role, Eric leads a team to research and manage investment risks and opportunities related to the sustainability strategies of companies in the region. Eric also works with Asian based portfolio managers on evaluating ESG exposures at a portfolio level. His team also develops methodologies for dedicated sustainable funds and represents Manulife IM’s ESG capabilities among the regional investment community. He chairs the Physical Risk and Resilience Working Group of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) and is a member of the Investment Leaders Working Group of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
Prior to joining Manulife Investment Management, Eric led the Sustainable Finance initiatives for Asia-Pacific at S&P Global where he helped to develop and launch the ESG Evaluation Framework. He worked closely with analysts across the region to evaluate ESG exposures in corporate and infrastructure entities. Before joining the Sustainable Finance team, he covered various sectors as a credit ratings analyst at S&P in both the United States and Asia. Preceding S&P, Eric worked on an equity portfolio at Barclay’s PLC in New York, and on the special situations desk of the boutique investment bank StormHarbour Partners LP.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Colgate University. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Singapore.
Yuki is the Director overseeing the Asia Pacific (APAC) Network for the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) which was launched in June 2022. She is focused on bringing together the financial sector across developed and emerging APAC to accelerate an inclusive and just transition to a net-zero economy.
Prior to joining GFANZ, she was at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative for 20 years and leading its activities in Asia Pacific for the last four years. She has represented UNEP FI at all three major sustainability reporting initiatives, GRI, IIRC and SASB, at various points in time. Other projects include developing and running the UNEP FI online course on climate change for the finance sector and representation at Rio+20.
She is a qualified chartered accountant in the UK (ICAEW) and trained and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is currently based in Singapore and has worked in Bangkok, Geneva and London.
Yuki has a BSc honours degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford.
Ray Tay is an Executive Director and team leader for Moody’s Project and Infrastructure Finance team for South and South-East Asia. In this role, based in Singapore, he oversees the ratings team responsible for Moody’s extensive coverage across the project finance and infrastructure sectors, including transport infrastructure, power & utilities, and credit enhanced issuances.
Ray is also the Franchise Lead for Digital Infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. This role sits across various rating groups and oversees our growing portfolio in this fast-moving infrastructure sector. Ray serves as a single point of contact for our analytical coverage of Data centers and other Digital Infrastructure in this region.
Ray is passionate about topics such as project bonds and the role of funding diversity and credit enhancement in bridging the infrastructure gap, particularly in emerging markets.
Before joining Moody’s in 2012, Ray was a Director with the Global Infrastructure & Projects Group in KPMG. Ray has also worked as a Senior Business Analyst with the Singapore Power Group.
In his role, John is involved in integrating ESG into Moody’s credit rating research and is the point person for Moody’s ESG outreach in the Asia-Pacific region. He is also responsible for publishing thematic and issuer-specific research on ESG risks relevant to credit analysis.
Prior to joining Moody’s, John was CEO of Visiondom ESG, an independent ESG consultancy in China, which helped institutional investors integrate ESG into their investment process. He also worked as an ESG specialist with Fidelity International’s Asia Stewardship and Sustainable Investing team, focusing on the Greater China and Oceania markets for five years. At Fidelity, he was closely involved in promoting ESG best practices in Asia and ESG integration, and had a special focus on corporate governance and carbon trading.
John holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Singapore Management University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainable Finance & Emerging Markets at Moody's Ratings. In this role, Rahul is responsible for Moody's Ratings' strategy to systematically integrate material sustainability and climate considerations into credit ratings. He also leads analytical teams that produce assessments on the credentials of sustainable debt (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of companies' carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments), as well as the credit rating agency’s thought leadership and market engagement on global emerging market credit.
Rahul regularly takes part in high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He represents Moody's as a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Transition Finance Council. He also represents Moody's on the Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the International Capital Market Association's Green and Social Bond Principles advisory council. He has presented on the impact of climate change on global credit markets at the 2025 and 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conferences in Belém (COP30) and Glasgow (COP26), and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation's Global Debt Mobilization Conference.
Before his current position, Rahul previously worked in Moody's Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for regional credit oversight and though leadership. Prior to joining Moody's in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and capital markets.
Rahul is the executive sponsor of Moody's UK Multicultural Business Resource Group. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.
Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainable Finance & Emerging Markets at Moody's Ratings. In this role, Rahul is responsible for Moody's Ratings' strategy to systematically integrate material sustainability and climate considerations into credit ratings. He also leads analytical teams that produce assessments on the credentials of sustainable debt (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of companies' carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments), as well as the credit rating agency’s thought leadership and market engagement on global emerging market credit.
Rahul regularly takes part in high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He represents Moody's as a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Transition Finance Council. He also represents Moody's on the Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the International Capital Market Association's Green and Social Bond Principles advisory council. He has presented on the impact of climate change on global credit markets at the 2025 and 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conferences in Belém (COP30) and Glasgow (COP26), and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation's Global Debt Mobilization Conference.
Before his current position, Rahul previously worked in Moody's Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for regional credit oversight and though leadership. Prior to joining Moody's in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and capital markets.
Rahul is the executive sponsor of Moody's UK Multicultural Business Resource Group. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.
Helge is the Chief Sustainability Officer at DBS. He is responsible for developing DBS’ overarching sustainability framework and driving ESG initiatives across the bank. He also chairs the DBS Sustainability Council, which comprises senior leaders across business and support units.
Prior to joining DBS, Helge was Head of Asia Pacific, Sustainable Finance and Global Capital Markets at ING, where he worked for 10 years. In this role, he successfully grew the bank's regional business of sustainability-related advisory services and sustainable finance transactions across products. He was also part of ING’s global Sustainable Finance and Capital Markets management teams as well as the bank’s global Sustainable Finance Quality Board. Before that, he spent more than 12 years in various roles at Deutsche Bank AG and UniCredit Group being based in different cities across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.
He also represents DBS in several global and regional working groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Industry Advisory Panel of the ASEAN’s Joint Sustainable Finance Working Group and the MAS-convened Green Finance Industry Taskforce. He is also appointed as alternate director in Climate Impact X Pte Ltd, a Singapore based global carbon market and exchange.
Helge holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Munich University (major in Developing Economics) as well as a postgraduate degree in sustainability from Cambridge University. He is also a CFA charter holder.
Based in Singapore, Eric is responsible for setting the ESG research, integration, and active ownership agenda in Asia. In his role, Eric leads a team to research and manage investment risks and opportunities related to the sustainability strategies of companies in the region. Eric also works with Asian based portfolio managers on evaluating ESG exposures at a portfolio level. His team also develops methodologies for dedicated sustainable funds and represents Manulife IM’s ESG capabilities among the regional investment community. He chairs the Physical Risk and Resilience Working Group of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) and is a member of the Investment Leaders Working Group of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
Prior to joining Manulife Investment Management, Eric led the Sustainable Finance initiatives for Asia-Pacific at S&P Global where he helped to develop and launch the ESG Evaluation Framework. He worked closely with analysts across the region to evaluate ESG exposures in corporate and infrastructure entities. Before joining the Sustainable Finance team, he covered various sectors as a credit ratings analyst at S&P in both the United States and Asia. Preceding S&P, Eric worked on an equity portfolio at Barclay’s PLC in New York, and on the special situations desk of the boutique investment bank StormHarbour Partners LP.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Colgate University. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Singapore.
Yuki is the Director overseeing the Asia Pacific (APAC) Network for the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) which was launched in June 2022. She is focused on bringing together the financial sector across developed and emerging APAC to accelerate an inclusive and just transition to a net-zero economy.
Prior to joining GFANZ, she was at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative for 20 years and leading its activities in Asia Pacific for the last four years. She has represented UNEP FI at all three major sustainability reporting initiatives, GRI, IIRC and SASB, at various points in time. Other projects include developing and running the UNEP FI online course on climate change for the finance sector and representation at Rio+20.
She is a qualified chartered accountant in the UK (ICAEW) and trained and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is currently based in Singapore and has worked in Bangkok, Geneva and London.
Yuki has a BSc honours degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford.
Michael West is Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s Ratings.
Prior to his appointment in 2019, he held several leadership roles at Moody’s, including Managing Director – Head of Moody’s Ratings and Research from 2016 to 2019. He also served as Managing Director – Head of Global Structured Finance from 2014 to 2016 and Managing Director – Head of Global Corporate Finance from 2010 to 2014.
Earlier in his career, Michael led research strategy for Moody’s ratings businesses and before that led Corporate Finance for the EMEA region, European corporates and the EMEA leveraged finance business. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1998, Michael worked at Bank of America and HSBC in various credit roles.
Michael has a bachelor’s degree in politics with economics and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in the U.K.
Wendy Cheong is Managing Director and Regional Head of Asia Pacific (APAC) for Moody’s Ratings, as well as CEO of Moody’s Ratings, Singapore. In this role, she leads on the development and execution of regional strategies and geographic initiatives across APAC, including ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory changes and expanding the company’s presence and business activities.
Wendy also serves as Executive Board Member for all Moody’s Ratings entities in APAC as well as Non-Executive Director for its domestic rating agency affiliates in China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam. Wendy also represents the region as a member of Moody’s Corporation’s Global Operating Committee.
Throughout her 16-year tenure at Moody’s, Wendy has held various global and regional roles in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, including as Chief of Staff to Moody’s global President/ CEO and Head of Strategy for APAC.
Prior to joining Moody’s, she held senior positions in strategy, sales and marketing at Prudential PLC and SingTel.
Wendy is committed to philanthropy and gender equality. She had served on the Board of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network from 2020 to 2023 and was global executive sponsor of Moody’s Women’s Business Resource Group, championing initiatives that empower women in the workplace.
Wendy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore.
Ray Tay is an Executive Director and team leader for Moody’s Project and Infrastructure Finance team for South and South-East Asia. In this role, based in Singapore, he oversees the ratings team responsible for Moody’s extensive coverage across the project finance and infrastructure sectors, including transport infrastructure, power & utilities, and credit enhanced issuances.
Ray is also the Franchise Lead for Digital Infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. This role sits across various rating groups and oversees our growing portfolio in this fast-moving infrastructure sector. Ray serves as a single point of contact for our analytical coverage of Data centers and other Digital Infrastructure in this region.
Ray is passionate about topics such as project bonds and the role of funding diversity and credit enhancement in bridging the infrastructure gap, particularly in emerging markets.
Before joining Moody’s in 2012, Ray was a Director with the Global Infrastructure & Projects Group in KPMG. Ray has also worked as a Senior Business Analyst with the Singapore Power Group.
In his role, John is involved in integrating ESG into Moody’s credit rating research and is the point person for Moody’s ESG outreach in the Asia-Pacific region. He is also responsible for publishing thematic and issuer-specific research on ESG risks relevant to credit analysis.
Prior to joining Moody’s, John was CEO of Visiondom ESG, an independent ESG consultancy in China, which helped institutional investors integrate ESG into their investment process. He also worked as an ESG specialist with Fidelity International’s Asia Stewardship and Sustainable Investing team, focusing on the Greater China and Oceania markets for five years. At Fidelity, he was closely involved in promoting ESG best practices in Asia and ESG integration, and had a special focus on corporate governance and carbon trading.
John holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Singapore Management University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainable Finance & Emerging Markets at Moody's Ratings. In this role, Rahul is responsible for Moody's Ratings' strategy to systematically integrate material sustainability and climate considerations into credit ratings. He also leads analytical teams that produce assessments on the credentials of sustainable debt (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of companies' carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments), as well as the credit rating agency’s thought leadership and market engagement on global emerging market credit.
Rahul regularly takes part in high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He represents Moody's as a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Transition Finance Council. He also represents Moody's on the Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the International Capital Market Association's Green and Social Bond Principles advisory council. He has presented on the impact of climate change on global credit markets at the 2025 and 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conferences in Belém (COP30) and Glasgow (COP26), and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation's Global Debt Mobilization Conference.
Before his current position, Rahul previously worked in Moody's Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for regional credit oversight and though leadership. Prior to joining Moody's in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and capital markets.
Rahul is the executive sponsor of Moody's UK Multicultural Business Resource Group. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.