The second edition of the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI 2) measures finance professionals’ perceptions of the quality and depth of green financial products across 110 international financial centres. It finds that the share of financial markets that can be considered sustainable remains very low. Progress is being made, with more financial centres entering the index, but the pace of the deployment of innovation and the mobilisation of finance remain a long way off, both in terms of urgency and of scale.
Key findings include:
- London, Paris and Amsterdam among the top-ranking financial centers for green finance in terms of both quality and depth.
- Brussels and Hamburg are top-ranking in the quality index; Copenhagen and Luxembourg are top-ranking in the depth index.
- There were 12 new entrants to the index: British Virgin Islands, Calgary, Casablanca, Cayman Islands, Istanbul, Malta, Mauritius, Montréal, Prague, São Paulo, Vancouver, and Warsaw.
- A number of centres moved up five or more places in the indices:
- Munich, Copenhagen, Toronto and Madrid moved up five or more places in the quality index;
- San Francisco, Toronto and Vienna moved up five or more places in the depth index.
- Renewable energy investment, sustainable infrastructure finance, and green bonds remained the areas of most interest.
- There was increasing interest in fossil fuel disinvestment, carbon disclosure and green insurance.
- The data suggest that leadership on quality of life issues may be an enabling factor for the growth of green finance.
- Perceptions of green finance are ahead of market reality. As in GGFI 1, these assessments suggest that survey respondents may perceive green finance to be more prevalent than it is. This underlines the scale of transition needed, the attention it is receiving, and that respondents expect green finance to be growing rapidly in significance.
- Overall ratings are still low, with ratings for quality ranging from 315 to 481 out of 1,000.
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About the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI)
The Global Green Finance Index (GGFI) is published every six months and ranks global financial centres according to the depth and quality of their green finance offerings. It aims to foster a discussion of what is meant by a “green” financial centre, encourage a race-to-the-top among financial centres, and provide an opportunity to share best practices. It is a non-profit initiative produced by Finance Watch and Z/Yen, with support from the MAVA Foundation.