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USD3.8 Billion NSCR Project Highlights Shift Toward Performance-Based PPP Models in ASEAN The Philippines’ North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR), valued at USD3.8 billion, is emerging as a reference point for how public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being restructured across Southeast Asia. Key highlights: • NSCR adopts an availability payment model under a concession period of up to 22.5 years • Private operators are paid based on service performance, not ridership — reducing revenue risk More info at https://lnkd.in/gZvQwW9v #ASEAN #PPP #RailInfrastructure #NSCR #ProjectFinance #TransportInfrastructure #PublicPrivatePartnership

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Unsolicited proposals are a recognized part of the Philippine PPP framework—but they do not confer a right to approval, award, or continuation. At multiple points in the PPP lifecycle, the government is legally empowered—and sometimes duty-bound—to disengage. This Insider View explains when and why the government may say no—and why USPs offer opportunity, not entitlement. Story link in the comments 👇

ADB and the UN Environment Programme recently held a webinar to validate the design and components of a project that aims to accelerate #SME investments in the #blueeconomy in #Malaysia, #Thailand, and the #Philippines. The #webinar also explored financing mechanisms and identified priority sectors, project locations, and #investment opportunities for SME-led blue economy initiatives. 🟠 Access the presentation materials at https://lnkd.in/gadvGGHY. #SDG14 Thomas Kessler, Jennifer Romero-Torres, Adam Brennan, Joan M. Fulton, Karla Martínez Toral, Richard Speak, Prerna Saxena, UN Environment Programme Asia and the Pacific, UNEP COBSEA

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The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved $250 million in financing for Glaciers to Farms, a flagship adaptation program led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) aimed at building resilient water and agricultural systems in glacier-dependent regions of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and Pakistan. The GCF contribution, primarily in the form of grants, will be complemented by $3.25 billion in ADB investments over the next decade. https://lnkd.in/euwfBwze

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𝐏𝐏𝐏 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐏𝐏 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Philippines successfully wrapped up the fourth and final run of its capacity building activity on Project Review and Approval of Local PPP Projects. Held on November 13–14, 2025 at the PPP Center Boardroom, this last session was attended by members of local Sanggunian and their secretariats, recognizing their vital role in the review and approval of PPP projects at the local level. In her opening remarks, PPP Center Executive Director Ma. Cynthia C. Hernandez emphasized the importance of the event, stating, “I encourage you to make the most of this opportunity. Ask questions, clarify concerns, and share your insights. Our knowledge exchanges will strengthen our collective expertise and contribute to the successful implementation of well-crafted PPP projects across the country. These projects are not just transactions; they are instruments for inclusive growth and improved public services. ... Your presence today reflects a strong commitment to advancing local PPP initiatives and promoting local transparency and good governance.” The activity is part of the Center’s progressive approach to capacity building, which began with introductory sessions on the PPP Code and its Implementing Rules and Regulations in 2024. This year’s program focused on practical, hands-on guidance for navigating the review and approval stages of local PPP projects. These processes are critical in ensuring clarity, consistency, and accountability in project implementation, fostering investor confidence and improving public service delivery. The discussions and workshop were led by the technical staff from the Center, including Agape Sem Comendador, Chief of the Local Capacity Building Division of the Capacity Building and Knowledge Management Service; Jacir Bebing, Planning Officer III from the Policy and Planning Service; Loida Ramos (Project Evaluation Officer IV), Ma. Czarina Pelagio (Project Evaluation Officer III), and Patricia Ann Concepcion (Project Evaluation Officer II) from the Project Evaluation Service. The final run was attended by representatives from the City Governments of Antipolo, Naga, Lipa, and Iligan, as well as the Provincial Government of Sarangani. Their participation reflects a shared commitment with the Center to building stronger partnerships between the public and private sectors for sustainable PPP projects to advance economic development and enhance public services. #PPPCenterOfThePhilippines

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A flooded street can mean more than just an impassable road. For marginalized communities, this entails missed school days, lost income, and health risks—socioeconomic vulnerabilities that are intensified by climate change, and, when overlooked in resilience building, will continue to hinder people from improving their quality of life. At the 2025 Metro Manila Resilient Governance Forum (MMRGF), ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) convened a panel discussion on social resilience that examined how local governments can strengthen social safety nets as a core element of resilience building. Titled “When disasters don’t discriminate, responses must: Inclusive local action for scalable national resilience,” the session brought together experts to explore what social resilience means in practice and how local governments can advance inclusive approaches to resilience. 👇 Read more: https://lnkd.in/genCqPeC

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🌍 Fund Resilience, Not Disasters Thank you to everyone who joined our International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2025 webinar, “Building Resilience Index: A Risk Mitigation Tool in Funding Investments for Resilient Infrastructures,” co-organized with ARISE Philippines and NEO Office PH. We extend our gratitude to our partners and presenters — QBE Insurance, Habitat for Humanity Philippines, DMWAI, and Bamberton— for demonstrating how investing in resilience delivers measurable business value: lower repair and downtime costs, stronger investor confidence, and assets that maintain value even after disasters. Special thanks to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its continued support to IFC’s Building Resilience Index (BRI) program and this event. The BRI provides a consistent, data-driven framework that helps developers, financiers, and insurers quantify climate and hazard risks, verify resilience measures, and make informed investment decisions. By turning resilience into an investment metric, BRI enables the private sector to shift from reactive recovery to proactive risk management — building stronger, safer, and more sustainable portfolios. Learn More about BRI: https://lnkd.in/eZXcb2Jh #FundResilienceNotDisasters #BuildingResilienceIndex #IDDRR2025 #DisasterRiskReduction #ARISEPhilippines #ResilientInfrastructure

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Kaya Founders Closes $25M Fund to Power Inclusive Innovation🚀 Kaya Founders has completed the final close of its US$25M second fund, strengthening its position as one of the Philippines’ most active early-stage VC firms. Backed by global and local investors, the fund supports founders from pre-seed to Series A through a dual-structure model designed for long-term growth. ✨ Highlights: ✔️ New investments in Datung, ProTech, LenderLink, and SunFund ✔️ Portfolio exceeds 40 startups in fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, health, logistics ✔️ Strong LP base including Pavilion Capital, Bracebridge Capital & AMTI Read More: https://lnkd.in/gQMwBiYh #KayaFounders #PhilippinesStartups #SoutheastAsiaTech #VentureCapital #Fintech

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Quezon City will be sharing about the work that we have been doing with them on their new Green Building Code of 2025! Under this new code, all new buildings in QC will have mandatory green building features, and by 2031, existing buildings will need to transition too. Learn more about how QC is raising its ambitions and targets in building decarbonisation across public, commercial, industrial, and residential buildings.

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Your city’s biggest untapped economic engine might be hiding in its trash. Think landfills are just a cost of progress? Davao City’s waste crisis shows they’re actually a strategic failure—and a massive circular economy opportunity. 🌍 🔷 1) From Waste Problem to Resource Strategy: Why 800 tons/day is a signal, not just a statistic – When collection hits ~800 tons/day, landfill life doesn’t just shrink—it collapses on a curve, not a straight line (capacity stresses, leachate, operating costs all spike) – Forward-looking cities treat that inflection point as a trigger to redesign systems: segregate at source, recover value (plastics, organics, metals), and reserve landfills only for true residuals 🔷 2) The Circular Shift: How cities turn trash into jobs, revenue, and resilience – Circular models reframe waste as feedstock: plastics to recyclate, organics to compost/biogas, construction waste to aggregates (e.g., organics diversion can cut landfill volume by 40–60% in many Asian cities) – Davao can pilot material recovery facilities near high-density barangays, partner with private recyclers, and formalize informal waste pickers into cooperatives—creating dignified, green jobs instead of expanding dumpsites 🔷 3) Execution Playbook: What leaders must put in place now – Core formula for city-scale circular planning: (Policy + Segregation + Infrastructure + Markets + Data) → Sustainable Waste System – In practice, that means: enforce segregation at source, invest in MRFs and composting, embed EPR for packaging, run transparent data dashboards on diversion rates, and align all of this with the city’s climate and investment agenda (see UN Environment Programme guidance on municipal waste policy) That’s why mastering circular economy design isn’t optional for cities like Davao—it’s the difference between a landfill time bomb and a resilient, investable urban future. Agree? 👉 Read: https://lnkd.in/dMB5Y-qt #CircularEconomy #DavaoCity #UrbanSustainability #WasteManagement #GreenInvestments 🌱 https://lnkd.in/dV8hEiir

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Land rights remain central to project development in the Philippines – not only as a matter of property law, but increasingly as a core environmental, social and governance (ESG) consideration. While constitutional restrictions on foreign land ownership continue to define the legal landscape, recent legislative and regulatory developments signal a calibrated policy direction. Dean Bryan A. San Juan, MJur. (Oxon), J.D. (UP) of Sarmiento Loriega Law Office highlights how recent Philippine land reforms are making land strategy central to ESG risk management in project development. Browse Asia Business Law Journal for more legal expert analysis. 📲 Join our membership: https://lnkd.in/ed_d3FHt #ablj #asia #philippines #esg #realestatelaw #infrastructurelaw #investmentlaw #environmentallaw #legalreform #legalinsights #inhousecounsel #businesslaw #legalprofession #lawfirms #lawyers #legal #law #lawdotasia

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Building the Roof Before the Walls: 5 Surprising Reality Checks for the Philippines’ MSME Strategy The MSME Development Plan (MSMEDP) 2023–2028 is a sophisticated piece of policy architecture, designed to launch Filipino enterprises into the global spotlight. Yet, a look at recent surveys and Focus Group Discussions in Central Visayas reveals a jarring disconnect between these high-level ambitions and the "ground truths" of the shop floor. While the policy looks toward a digital horizon, local entrepreneurs are highlighting foundational cracks that no amount of software can fix. Read our article: From Pain Points to Policy: What 75 Voices Told Us About MSME Development in Cebu https://lnkd.in/gQYMs7Ye

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🌿 GGGI Partners with Department of Housing and Urban Planning to Strengthen Urban Resilience through Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) Moving forward together! 🤝 GGGI Lao PDR and the Department of Housing and Urban Planning (DHUP) of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport has officially signed a subgrant on May 14, 2026. This funding will directly accelerate key technical activities under the NATURA Project (2024-2029), a flagship initiative generously funded by New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade. 🎯 Target Location: Nong Loub Ian, Sikhottabong District, Vientiane Capital. This subgrant enhances the capacity of government partners to integrate Nature-based Solutions (NbS) into sustainable urban development, while strengthening the resilience of vulnerable urban communities and supporting the transition toward a climate-resilient future. 🔗 Learn more about NATURA project: https://lnkd.in/gQs6GUx7 #GGGILaoPDR #NATURAProject #NatureBasedSolutions #UrbanAdaptation #GreenGrowth #ClimateResilience Dagmar Zwebe Eva Diaz Ugena Marcel Silvius Aaron J.M. Russell Judy Namchaythip Souvannavong Thongsavath SOMDACHIT Touly Vilayphone Vanhnaly Chanthathivong Lattana PHONEKEO

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OK, but here's a list of things that PHP MSME's would ACTUALLY benefit from, before they start focusing on sustainability optimizations: 1. Opening company/subsidiaries/changing GIS within 24 hrs; 2. Unified particulars update accross all local & national govnmn't institutions - not separate for SEC,BIR,LGU,SSS,PhilHealth and Pag-Ibig (just the standard set) 3. Opening corporate bank accounts & e-wallet merchant accounts in 24 hrs; 4. Easy process to obtaing corporate credit cards & SME loans; 5. Real-time B2B payments above 50k PHP, without relying on check exchange etc etc etc https://lnkd.in/dP9fMBV6

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First day at #CBA20 🎉 The opening plenary of the 20th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) in Manila gave us powerful reflections on where locally led adaptation started and the urgency of where it needs to go next. Opening the session, Tom Mitchell reflected on the origins of the CBA movement in the Philippines, paying tribute to the nearly 1,200 lives lost in the 2006 landslide. The response to the disaster triggered community-based adaptation in the country. He remembered a collaboration between Plan International, Save the Children Philippines and UNICEF that resulted in a 15-year old girl from the Philippines being one of the first ever child activists to address a COP meeting, in 2007 in Bali Indonesia. Speakers throughout the sessions returned to a shared message: progress has been made, but systems have not changed enough. 💰 Ms Ericka Lynne Nava from Philippine Action for Community-Led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. reminded participants that while CBA has advanced globally, funding systems are still shaped by top-down decision-making that excludes the communities most affected. 🤝 Atty Romell Antonio Cuenca from Climate Change Commission Philippines reinforced that climate change is already a lived reality, particularly in urban informal settlements. He emphasised that adaptation becomes real only when it is grounded in communities, where tradition and science come together in a “knowledge nexus”: "Achieving just and equitable adaptation requires that we sharpen our focus on those most at risk". Across the panel discussion, a few clear messages emerged: 📉 Funding for adaptation is under pressure, with a sharp decline over the past two years ⚖️ Adaptation is about agency and trust is essential for finance to reach local levels 🧭 Indigenous Peoples’ and local knowledge systems must be central to climate change discourses 👉 This is exactly what we explore in our paper on scaling locally led adaptation, download it now https://lnkd.in/gKb7-NpD See you for day two! 🙌 Paul Mitchell May Thazin Aung Acuda Aaron Rojy Joshi Paula Sevilla Núñez Marion Pobo

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At the recent ADB Water and Urban Development Forum, Castalia's Nonito Bernardo, Jr. co-hosted a panel discussion with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on affordable housing. The session drew on findings from Castalia’s review of housing policy, delivery, and private sector engagement in seven countries. The panel explored how to: 🔹Identify gaps in current housing frameworks 🔹Enable private sector participation in housing delivery 🔹Support inclusive, adequate, accessible, and climate-resilient housing This work is informing ADB’s approach to strengthening housing sectors in its Developing Member Countries. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gprk2efa #AffordableHousing #AWUF2025 #UrbanDevelopment #Castalia #ADB #Infrastructure #PrivateSector

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Recent findings from Philippine Institute for Development Studies reveal a concerning reality: 30% of Filipino households are on the brink of poverty. While these families aren’t officially classified as poor, they are just one unexpected event away from financial hardship. The study highlights that many vulnerable households face unstable incomes, and many earn very little. The disparities are even more pronounced in rural areas compared to urban centers, showcasing the significant regional differences across the country.

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Frederick D. Go has secured €200 million in development financing from KfW Development Bank to support the Philippines’ Marine Ecosystems for Blue Economy Development Program (MEBED1). The initiative focuses on strengthening regulatory capacity for the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of marine and coastal resources, aligning environmental goals with economic development.

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