DBS Bank, South-east Asia’s largest bank by assets, is making climate adaptation a strategic priority in 2026. It is moving to learn more about how financing solutions can be structured to fund the development of initiatives that can protect people and places from the impacts of climate change.
The bank’s chief sustainability officer Helge Muenkel told The Straits Times this in an interview on March 12, about a week after Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment said on March 3 that it is making climate adaptation a national priority for 2026.
“Climate adaptation is a core strategic priority for us… What we will do now is we will leverage the work we have already done on physical risk assessments… and ultimately leverage these insights to engage customers on that,” he said.
Climate adaptation refers to actions that reduce the impact of climate change on communities. These include building coastal defences to protect land from rising sea levels and protecting the vulnerable against extreme heat.
Physical climate risk assessment refers to the identification, analysis and evaluation of physical risks that businesses face from the impacts of climate change, such as wildfires or rise in temperatures.
Such assessments can improve the resilience of the financial sector and help companies identify opportunities for climate adaptation.
