British International Investment re-enters Southeast Asia including Vietnam

British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has announced a $15 million commitment to the SUSI Asia Energy Transition Fund, a Southeast Asia-focused energy transition infrastructure fund managed by Swiss-based firm SUSI Partners.

This is BII’s first commitment in Southeast Asia following its plan to re-enter the region and provide the investment capital needed to boost clean and sustainable economic growth and support the region’s green energy transition, BII said Monday.

With this commitment, BII joins other development finance institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Dutch development bank FMO, Sweden's Development Finance Institution (Swedfund), the Norwegian Investment Fund (Norfund), and the Development Bank of Austria (OeEB), as well as private investors in backing the SUSI fund, or SAETF.

The investment marks the start of realizing BII’s ambitions to invest up to £500 million in climate finance in the Indo-Pacific region and forms part of its overall goal to target 30% of total new commitments to climate finance.

SAETF targets infrastructure investments across the energy transition spectrum, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy storage projects, and focuses on emerging economies in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. The fund will contribute to global climate mitigation goals and the Paris Agreement by financing clean energy solutions, increasing the supply of reliable and affordable electricity for businesses and consumers, and enabling access to clean energy solutions in underserved areas.

SUSI Partners announced this February that it had launched a platform to develop large-scale renewable assets in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia. The platform focuses on the greenfield development of solar, wind, and hydrogen energy with the ability to continue through financing, construction, and operation of these assets across Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, and other regional markets.

Southeast Asia has been one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. While the countries are in various stages of development, almost all their economies have more than doubled in size since 2000. This means, BII said Monday, that energy demand in the region has increased on average by around 3% a year over the past two decades.

“Vietnam in particular has seen a massive spike in electricity demand as it has become a manufacturing hub in recent years. To address the growing energy demand and further reduce dependence on fossil fuel generation, Vietnam has committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050,” said the UK’s development finance institution.

Consequently, BII’s investment is also aimed at attracting further commercial investors to unleash climate finance opportunities and support green, resilient economic growth in the region.

“This is a great step towards the UK’s support on Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership which was launched in December 2022 and targets to mobilize finance to support Vietnam to achieve its sustainability ambition,” said BII.

The British Ambassador to Vietnam, Iain Frew, said: “I am delighted to see British International Investment taking concrete action in supporting the Indo-Pacific region with a focus on climate finance. Investments such as this demonstrate the UK’s strong commitment to helping Vietnam exploit its great clean energy potential and lead transformative, sustainable economic growth.”