New York – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has established a new collaboration with Temasek Trust to mobilize private capital to generate positive social and sustainability outcomes in Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) through the awareness, adoption, and application of UNDP SDG Impact Standards, SDG Investor Maps, and SDG Investor Platform in the region.

Temasek Trust will serve as the anchor partner for UNDP’s SDG Finance initiative SDG Impact in Asia, so that the SDG Impact tools can be tailored to the region in a way that is useful and relevant to the Asian context. Temasek Trust has been actively involved in the development process of the SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds and collaborated with their impact fund, ABC World Asia, to pilot the Standards and to provide essential input and feedback to UNDP.

“SDG Impact’s collaboration with Temasek Trust will enable the development of SDG Investor Maps that will provide a rich inventory of impact business models and investment opportunity areas that align with the SDGs in ASEAN countries. SDG Impact will also partner Temasek Trust in launching the new UNDP SDG Impact Standards and rolling out training and technical assistance to funds, firms and governments interested in applying the Standards in the ASEAN region,” Said Fabienne Michaux, Director of UNDP’s SDG Impact.

“Temasek Trust’s aspirations to establish impact investing as a lever for sustainability and the UNDP SDG Impact’s plans for scaling up its services and reach in Asia present a fortuitous collaboration opportunity to reach common goals,” said  Cheo Hock Kuan, CEO of Temasek Trust. “UNDP and Temasek Trust’s collaboration will allow for the pooling of strengths and cross-leveraging of capacities between the partners.”

The partnership will also make it possible to provide capacity development in leading impact measurement and management practice to investment practitioners in the region. Plans are also being made for a series of forums to convene investors interested in impact and achieving the SDGs.

“Asia Pacific has been pioneering the use of SDG Impact's Impact Measurement and Management approaches and Standards that have now become essential ingredients of our engagements with private sector. We’ve piloted SDG Investor Maps in China and India and are looking forward to a deeper engagement in ASEAN countries through this partnership with Temasek Trust,” said Jaco Cilliers, Chief of Regional Policy and Programme Support at the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub.

About UNDP SDG Impact

SDG Impact launched in 2018 as a flagship initiative of UNDP’s Finance Sector Hub focused on eliminating barriers to and driving integrity for SDG-enabling investment at scale. Increasingly, investors and business leaders see the SDGs as their guideposts for what it means to be sustainable, responsible, and inclusive – but, they do not know the most efficient nor effective way to allocate resources to achieve the SDGs. They lack the clarity, insights, tools, and capacities required to support and authenticate their contributions to achieving the SDGs. SDG Impact fills this gap and makes it easier for private sector investors to identify and strengthen their contributions to the SDGs.

About Temasek Trust

Established by Temasek Holdings in 2007, Temasek Trust is a steward of philanthropic endowments and gifts. Its purpose is to strive for sustainable funding for the long term well-being and security of our communities. Temasek Trust provides governance and financial oversight of endowments for Temasek Foundation, Stewardship Asia Centre and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory. The work at Temasek Trust supports a common purpose of doing good, uplifting lives and advancing communities in Singapore and beyond. Temasek Trust strives also to enable new pathways for philanthropy and to inspire and enable giving.