Shifting Gears: How the world’s leading fi nancial centres are entering a new phase of strategic action on green and sustainable finance
vendredi 22 mars 2019 AEFR Visiter le site sourceExecutive Summary
The world’s financial centres are the locations where supply and
demand for green and sustainable finance will be matched. This
report presents the first findings from an in-depth assessment of
actions in 13 of these hubs, all members of the Inter national
Network of Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) across
Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. The assessment reveals 10
key insights on how financial centres are mobilizing their
expertise, connectivity and capital to help solve some of the
world’s toughest financing challenges:
1. A New Form of Public Private Partnership:
Nearly two thirds of financial centre initiatives on green and
sustainable finance are partnerships between the private and public
sectors, giving them unique ability to link policy and
practice.
2. Overcoming Barriers to Growth: The top three
barriers faced by financial centres are i) a lack of green
financial products, ii) inconsistent standards and iii)
insufficient market demand. Lack of a shared language for green and
sustainable finance is a key constraint, highlighting the need for
continued dialogue between public and private stakeholders on
taxonomies.
3. Going Beyond Climate: Climate change continues
to be a major focus for activities branded as “sustainable” but
FC4S members recognize need to broaden their offering to include
other environmental priorities (e.g. circular economy, natural
capital, and conservation finance) as well as social themes, such
as financial inclusion and impact investing
4. Policy innovation is a Key Driver: New policy
initiatives and action by financial regulators are a key driver in
half the financial centres, with system-wide initiatives and debt
capital markets the most cited examples. In a quarter of centres,
policy and regulation are touching upon equity and debt capital
markets, insurance, investment, banking and system-wide action.
5. A Diversity of Financial Instruments: Over 75%
of respondents noted the presence of different debt instruments
related to green and/or sustainable finance – primarily green
bonds. Equity instruments are on the rise, with 25 % of respondents
noting the presence of structured products, closed-ended funds, and
discretionary mandates.
6. Sector Evolution Varies: Investment and asset
management is the most mature sector with respect to green and
sustainable finance in most centres, while green banking is
evolving and insurance has the furthest to go.
7. Professional services are growing rapidly: Over
75% of respondents acknowledged the presence of sustainability
rating services and consulting firms; other services
(sustainability research, labelling, legal, clean techs and carbon
trading) are present in some financial centres.
8. Priorities for Future Action: Leading financial
centres have identified further product development, improved data
collection and better market standards as top priorities for
further development.
9. Focus on Innovation: Applying financial
technology (fintech) solutions to sustainable finance challenges is
a major focus for financial centres, with several FC4S members
establishing specific projects aimed at fostering innovation –
including accelerator programmes.
10. Increasing International Collaboration: FC4S
member centres are working more closely together on sustainable
finance, including through bilateral projects. More and more
centres are seeking to join the FC4S Network to benefit from
collaboration opportunities.