SEA, China’s GBA emerging as key sustainable finance hubs

Sustainability-focused assets in the region reached $220b in H1 2025.

Southeast Asia (SEA) and China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) are emerging as key hubs for sustainable finance and are seeing accelerating investments in green and climate-resilient solutions, according to joint research by three institutes.

Nearly three-quarter or 74% of 77 organisations surveyed in the region have increased their sustainability related investments from 2024-2025, according to a joint study by the MSCI Sustainability Institute, the Bank of China’s Hong Kong Financial Research Institute, and the Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute at the University of Hong Kong.

85% of the respondents intend to do so over the next five years.

Sustainability-focused assets in the region reached $220b in the first half of 2025.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, the share of global investment in climate-themed funds rose by about 12 percentage points (ppt) over the past seven years.

Notably, the labeled bond issuance across the GBA and SEA has topped $350b since 2015. The market remains dominated by green bonds, a segment led by the GBA due to its early start and supportive regulatory environment.

As of July 2025, 15% of listed companies in the GBA and 8% in SEA have climate targets approved by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).

Notably, a plurality of companies in both regions are aligned with warming trajectories between 1.5°C and 2.5°C, with about 5% on track to limit warming to 1.5°C, and roughly 12% remaining on pathways exceeding 5°C, the joint research said.