CSF was pleased to have Dr. Hao Liang deliver the keynote at the December CSF Partners’ Meeting.
Dr. Liang is Associate Professor of Finance, Academic Director of the Singapore Green Finance Centre, and Co-Lead of the Sustainable Business Research Peak at Singapore Management University. In July 2025, his report The Effects of Financing Green and Brown Sectors: What Do Theories and Evidence Say? was published in the Asian Economic Policy Review Special Issue on ‘Sustainable Finance and Policies in Asia’
The report finds that conventional green finance—directing capital only to low-carbon sectors—delivers only modest emission reductions and can unintentionally raise emissions from carbon-intensive industries by restricting access to transition funding. Using modeling and literature evidence, the authors show that penalising “brown” sectors can backfire, while supporting their gradual decarbonisation through transition finance is more effective and less economically disruptive. They recommend policies that expand transition finance markets, alongside green finance to achieve orderly and inclusive progress toward net-zero.
