Since its launch in 2019, the Green Finance Platform continues to provide the global financial sector with a “one-stop shop” of latest innovations to start, scale and measure their contributions to a green economic transition.
Together with its partners, the platform provides tools for businesses and investors to assess sustainability risks and opportunities, guidance on responsible banking, insurance and finance, and global reports on aligning the financial system with sustainable development.
During this time of COVID-19, the Green Finance Platform – through a set of knowledge products – has helped the finance community articulate their unique role in this global health crisis and how they can align their efforts to maximize immediate impacts and optimize long-term outcomes.
Regulatory measures in support of green finance
At the end of 2019, the Green Finance Platform, together with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, introduced the Green Finance Measures Database – a library of policy and regulatory measures that support the development of green finance.
When it launched, the database featured some 390 policy and regulatory measures across 60 developed and developing countries. Today, that number has increased to over 500 measures in 75 countries.
“The database is a unique resource that contains policy and regulatory measures relating to green finance across different asset classes,” said Camille Andre, a green finance expert with the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP). “In an effort to build back better post-COVID, more and more countries are adopting these measures by reallocating capital to help finance a green response to the pandemic.”
Responding to the COVID crisis
The Green Finance Platform has created a dedicated COVID-19 thematic page for partners to highlight their efforts to address the pandemic – from socially responsible impact investment strategies to investing in sustainable infrastructure. International financial institutions, central banks and multilateral development banks are working to respond to the crisis and ease the economic disruption through structural transformation, monetary measures and additional lending commitments.
The platform has also organized a series of webinars for financial institutions to think innovatively about how they can play a leadership role in an inclusive green recovery. In the Fostering Economic Recovery through Green Finance Education session, organized jointly with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), global experts discussed how green finance education and capacity building are critical to ensure a sustainable and resilient recovery.
Another webinar explored how the private finance can support a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 economic fallout, covering such big-picture questions as how ESG investing will have to evolve in the new global context, the role of green and social bonds in providing long-term financing for a just transition, and how private investment will address global challenges like biodiversity loss and climate change in a post-COVID world.
“Climate change risks need to be integrated into financial decision-making at an accelerated pace if we want to build a resilient and green recovery, said Eric Usher, who heads the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative, UNEP FI. “Five years on from the Paris Agreement, increased transparency and policy signals are required for private financial flows to align with the climate agenda.”
A growing green finance community
In its mission to increase awareness on how the financial sector can serve the long-term needs of an inclusive, environmentally sustainable economy, the platform has welcomed a number of organizations that are keen on advancing the sustainable finance agenda.
In 2020, the Green Finance Platform welcomed 17 new Knowledge Partners, bringing the overall total to 31. Among the new members are: CDP and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (climate-related financial disclosures), Climate Policy Initiative (tracking sustainable investments trends), International Capital Market Association (green bond market), Carbon Tracker (stranded assets), ShareAction (shareholder stewardship), Rocky Mountain Institute’s Center for Climate Aligned Finance (climate-alignment finance), and Finance for Biodiversity (natural capital risk and materiality).
In 2021, the platform – with the support of its partners – plans to conduct a research project to assess the effectiveness and impact of policy instruments and regulatory structures for green finance, and identify which measures may be the most effective when it comes to sustainable development.