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The financial system can play a major role in contributing to a transition towards a low-carbon, resilient and inclusive economy. However, for this to happen, three key deficiencies must be addressed: the misallocation of available capital for long-term development; externalities and systemic risk, including climate change; and environmental stress, notably natural disasters. Critical to aligning financial and capital markets will be measures within the financial system to green private finance through adjustments to key policies, regulations, standards and norms, and through market innovations.
In 2018, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) launched the GEF Aligning Finance Policies project to build international consensus to align financial systems with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop national regulatory actions. The project focuses on the development of national Sustainable Finance Roadmaps in six countries – China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia and Nigeria – and building international consensus on best practices – from policies and regulations to standards and norms – to green the financial system.
This Green Forum discussion is for professionals to share their knowledge and experience on sustainable finance, particularly best practices to help align the financial system with sustainable development and climate change mitigation needs, as well as ways to incorporate sustainability factors into the rules that govern banking, insurance, institutional investment and capital markets.
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Created a Post in Sustainable Finance
Despite the ambitious Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation in the EU - making it more advanced than the US and Asia in ESG regulatory framework - banks and asset managers are concerned about the uncertainties and 'blind spots' in interpretation, leaving some room for greenwashing. They believe that regulations should provide a clear basis for all market players and should be well prepared.
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play an important role in financing developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and protect against the effects of climate change, and 2020 was a critical waypoint for MDB climate finance. For one, it marked the due date for the climate finance targets many MDBs set in 2015. 2020 was also the year by which developed countries committed to mobilize $100 billion per year in climate finance for developing countries, with many developed countries channeling a significant share through MDBs.
Find out more about MDBs' progress during 2020.
Created a Post in Climate Change, Sustainable Finance
Climate impacts are here, now, and they are felt most acutely by local communities already disproportionately vulnerable to economic, health and other stressors. Yet the world lacks information on how much climate adaptation finance is actually reaching and supporting these at-risk communities.
Created a Post in Sustainable Finance, Water and Sanitation
Vast additional public and private funds will be required to deliver the Paris Agreement and the SDGs. Blended finance is an important financing solution to accelerate action, but it has not reached scale for water-related investments. This session will discuss lessons learned and how to overcome barriers to scale blended finance.
Regulate business to tackle climate crisis, urges Mark Carney
Former Bank chief says governments must act as free markets will not reduce emissions alone
Created an Event in Sustainable Finance, Cities and Urban Development
Created a Post in Energy, Sustainable Finance
A coalition of investors that manage more than $4 trillion in assets wrote a letter to some of the world’s biggest banks to demand bolder action for addressing climate change and biodiversity decline, including publishing short-term climate-related targets and ending all coal finance by 2040.
Created a Post in Sustainable Finance, Natural Capital
Biodiversity loss is a risk to the global financial system
'Just as financial institutions have a responsibility to ensure that they are not a conduit for money used to do harm through criminal activity, there is a growing sense that the finance sector has a responsibility to manage the economic risks associated with nature degradation – and ensure they are not a conduit for finance that is destroying nature.
Created an Event in Sustainable Finance
Created a Post in Natural Capital, Climate Change, Sustainable Finance
On 6 July (3-4pm CEST), join the GGKP webinar, “Closing the Financing Gap: Investing in Natural Capital to Achieve the SDGs.”
We will hear from experts with deep inside knowledge on the implementing solutions to plugging the natural capital investment gap. A panel discussion will focus on the financing opportunities for enhancing ecosystem services that nature provides during this strained time of economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers: - Janez Potočnik, former European Commissioner for the Environment; Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel and Partner at SYSTEMIQ
- Elizabeth M. White, Principal Strategist-Sustainability, Sector Economics and Development Impact, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- Simon Zadek, Chair of Finance for Biodiversity (F4B) and Director of Migrant Nation.
- Ivo Mulder, Head (a.i), Climate Finance Unit (UNEP CFU), Ecosystem Division, UN Environment Programme
- Anil Markandya, Ikerbasque Professor, Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3)