Tamara Singh

As Southeast Asia confronts accelerating climate threats, the conversation around sustainable finance has been undergoing a profound shift. While public finance and multilateral funding remain essential, a powerful yet under-leveraged player has been stepping up its influence – philanthropy.

Across Asia, where climate exposure is high and capital scarcity is acute, philanthropic capital is becoming a critical spark for unlocking private sector confidence in nature-based solutions ( NbS ), those that restore ecosystems while delivering tangible economic value.

The numbers speak volumes. The World Economic Forum’s 2023 report, New Nature Economy: Asia, states that Asia-Pacific needs US$2.3 trillion annually to meet climate and nature goals by 2030. Current spending is only around US$1.2 trillion a year, resulting in an annual shortfall of US$1.1 trillion.

NbS remain vastly undercapitalized, plagued by perceptions of risk, small scale, and inconsistent revenue streams. In this context, philanthropy should not be viewed as charity but rather as catalytic capital, de-risking innovative models, underwriting proof-of-concept, and aggregating projects to scale.

The Asset recently spoke with Tamara Singh, regional managing director at The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific, a financial strategist turned systems-change leader, to understand how philanthropy is reshaping Asia’s climate finance story, not merely as a supplement, but as a cornerstone. Singh is reimagining how high-impact capital can be deployed for regenerative change.

The Asset: You’ve led energy and finance teams across global markets, from BP and Macquarie to Westpac and GIC, and helped shape nation-level sustainability strategies. How has that breadth of experience spanning financial innovation, digital transformation, and global partnerships prepared you for your role at The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific, particularly in scaling sustainable finance for nature-based solutions in this region?

Tamara Singh: Throughout my career in energy and finance, I’ve witnessed firsthand how innovation, whether digital or financial, scales only when it’s met with trust, clarity, and evidence. That’s just as true for AI and fintech as it is for sustainable finance and nature-based solutions.

One principle I carry with me is the Principle of Charity, a formal name for a simple truth I’ve observed over the years: most people are doing the best they can, with good intentions. This mindset has proven critical in moments of transformation, especially when introducing new models or metrics that may feel unfamiliar, or even uncomfortable, to those who’ve been doing the work for years.

I’ve seen this play out in different ways: colleagues grappling with the implications of AI, or learning to work with new climate-related data and ESG frameworks. The discomfort is real, but so is the potential. When change is approached with respect for people, grounded in strong evidence, and tied to value, real adoption becomes possible.

At The Nature Conservancy, scaling sustainable finance for nature-based solutions in Asia-Pacific requires patient coalition-building, evidence-based design, and an ability to meet the needs of communities, institutions, and investors where they are. We’re working to unlock capital for nature by proving what works and building trust along the way.

Philanthropy has traditionally supported conservation through grants, but we’re now seeing a pivot towards market-based approaches. How do you see philanthropic capital being used to unlock early-stage NbS projects in Southeast Asia, especially those that aim to generate carbon credits but face high upfront costs and long-time horizons?

Philanthropic capital plays a catalytic role in unlocking early-stage NbS projects in Southeast Asia, particularly those aiming to generate carbon credits but facing high upfront costs, long time horizons, and limited investor visibility. In many ways, philanthropy functions like research and development: funding the early science, tools, and business models that can later attract private capital and scale impact.

One example is TNC’s BC+ Challenge, co-led with Conservation International, which provides early-stage support to community-led businesses and projects, sustaining livelihood models until carbon revenues come online. This mirrors private market strategies, where ventures are funded pre-revenue to develop viable models and future cash flows. Similarly, philanthropy has supported the creation of tools like the SCeNe Coalition’s NbS Tool, which is freely accessible to frontline organizations and helps them assess the feasibility,  and ultimately the investability, of their nature-based solutions projects.

Where philanthropy truly stands apart is in its flexibility. Many early-stage projects don’t attract private capital, not because they lack potential, but because they’re too small, too early, or simply not visible in a crowded marketplace. Philanthropy can step in where markets stall, enabling tools, capacity, and risk-taking that would otherwise be out of reach. 

In doing so, it helps create the pipeline of investable NbS projects that are essential for scaling both climate impact and community prosperity.

Southeast Asia holds 30% of the world’s NbS potential, yet funding remains well below what’s needed. What role can Asia’s high-net-worth individuals play in bridging this gap – not just through capital, but by shaping models that are regionally grounded, community-attuned, and built to scale?

Asia’s high-net-worth individuals can play a crucial role in closing the NbS funding gap, which currently stands at an estimated US$737 billion per year. Many remain business owners and operators, and are well-placed to go beyond providing capital, championing models that are locally grounded, scalable, and aligned with long-term community prosperity. 

Many retain strong ties to the landscapes and communities from which they come. As stewards of intergenerational wealth, they understand the importance of sustainability, not just as a global imperative, but as a way to preserve local prosperity. Increasingly, they are also seeking ways to align their wealth with purpose.

What’s often missing in early-stage NbS projects is flexible, risk-tolerant capital to test and validate models before carbon or biodiversity revenues come online. This is where HNWIs can lead, by taking on a catalytic role similar to that of venture capital in the private sector: funding feasibility studies, supporting local partners, and helping to build the evidence base for larger-scale investment.

At TNC, we’ve seen how early support can unlock durable outcomes. Our 2030 goals include supporting 45 million local stewards and benefiting over 100 million people. Initiatives like NatureVest have shown that it’s possible to build NbS investment models that can deliver both environmental and financial returns – especially when supported early by mission-aligned funders.

By moving from learning to direct engagement, Asia’s wealth holders can help shape a new generation of NbS solutions: ones that reflect regional values, serve community needs, and scale with integrity.

With roughly 80% of NbS projects already achieving market-rate returns, what do you think is still missing to make these opportunities more visible, and credible, to family offices and foundations looking to go beyond traditional giving?

NbS are increasingly demonstrating that they can deliver both measurable climate impact and competitive financial returns. As these success stories grow, interest from family offices and foundations continues to rise. The key constraint today is not demand, but a steady pipeline of high-quality, investment-ready projects, along with the market infrastructure to support them at scale.

This mirrors the evolution of capital markets. Once early value was proven, capital followed, businesses emerged, and momentum accelerated. NbS is reaching that same turning point. Similar to how commercial and investment banks supported the early growth of financial markets, institutions like Temasek Trust Foundation Advisors and the Asian Community Fund are now enabling a new generation of strategic philanthropists and mission-aligned investors to support the success of science and their business.

TNC is focused on closing the supply gap by developing scalable, high-quality NbS projects that offer both environmental benefits and long-term financial value. Our Nature Bonds programme, for example, restructures sovereign debt to unlock funding for conservation while also supporting national development priorities. Through Nature4Water, we work with communities to protect and restore watersheds, improving water security and reducing environmental risk.

These efforts demonstrate that NbS can move beyond one-time grants. With the right design, they can generate consistent cash flows and create enduring natural assets – starting, in many cases, with a catalytic commitment that helps unlock broader capital participation. Developers, capital providers, and enabling institutions all play a crucial role in building a mature, investable market for nature.

As carbon credit pricing and verification remain fragmented, do you see philanthropy playing a role in building infrastructure, funding the science, methodologies, and local validation needed to make NbS credits more robust, bankable, and fair?

Fragmentation and inefficiency in the carbon market are often seen as barriers, but they also represent opportunities for innovation and rethinking how value is created. Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in funding the foundational infrastructure that enables NbS to become more credible, bankable, and accessible. 

Unlike traditional capital, philanthropy can tolerate early-stage risks, accept a wider range of benefits, and focus on public goods that lay the foundation for sustainable markets. Beyond advancing the science and methodologies behind carbon credits, it also helps direct resources towards systems that reduce friction and generate long-term value.

A good example is the Southeast Asia Nature-based Solutions and Climate ( SCeNe ) Coalition’s NbS Tool. With support from donors such as The Silent Foundation, Google.org, UBS Optimus Foundation, and QuantEdge Advancement Initiative, this initiative has made science-based data assessment technologies available to early-stage project developers who might otherwise struggle to access or afford them.

By lowering these entry barriers, philanthropic support is helping local and frontline organizations build more robust and investable NbS projects from the start.

Ultimately, fairness in the carbon market hinges on access. When communities and small developers can participate on equal footing with the right tools, validation frameworks, and scientific credibility, we create a more inclusive and effective market. Philanthropy plays a vital role in making that possible.

With Asean nations embedding NbS in national decarbonization strategies, and Singapore subsidizing corporate participation, how important is it for philanthropists to work in concert with public policy? Is this where long-term regional partnerships can make the biggest impact?

As Asean nations integrate nature-based solutions into their decarbonization strategies, and Singapore provides subsidies to encourage corporate participation, collaboration between philanthropists and public policy is more important than ever. Philanthropy plays a unique role in advancing and informing policy by quickly piloting innovative approaches that public institutions may not be able to test at scale or with the same agility.

Philanthropic efforts can also build capacity at the community level, enabling local stakeholders to co-create solutions tailored to their specific needs, rather than conforming to top-down mandates. Long-term regional partnerships are critical in scaling successful pilots and sharing lessons across borders, helping to align policy goals with on-the-ground realities.

Using the examples of the tools at our disposal, through the incubation of SEA NbS projects with the support of the SCeNe Coalition, there is a pipeline of projects vetted for high-quality thresholds that NatureVest and other structuring programmes in the Coalition NGOs can partner with Asean asset managers and investors in.  With our focus on embedding business models into these projects to sustain livelihoods, we envision that these projects will then find commercial pathways to exit.

In this way, working in concert, philanthropy and public policy can drive meaningful, sustainable progress towards regional climate and conservation targets.