| The Inquiry team has had a few very busy days at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. and our work culminated in two events that we are delighted to share with you. Our first meeting was titled ‘The role of financial centres in promoting strong, sustainable and balanced growth’ and was held at the Executive Directors lounge at the World Bank Headquarters. This two-part event was organized by UN Environment and the Government of Luxembourg. The first part was the official signing ceremony of a US$500,000 agreement between the Government of Luxembourg and UN Environment to assist with the 2019 to 2020 work plan of the International Network of Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S). Luxembourg has proved to be a leader in the sustainable finance movement and this assistance from them only highlights their commitment to the cause. The second part of the session examined the ways in which financial centres, as custodians of trillions of dollars, can collaborate to accelerate a just transition to a green economy. This was followed by the sharing of experiences among financial centres and market actors on the challenges and best practices to promote sustainable finance and accelerate a transition to a low-carbon economy. The meeting (pictured below) opened with a keynote by Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance of Luxembourg, with a brief analysis of Luxembourg’s efforts (and challenges) to unlock and align private and public financial flows towards the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement objectives. |
Other speakers at the meeting included John Berrigan, Deputy Director-General, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA), Marcos Ayerra, Chair of the Inter-American Regional Committee, IOSCO, Satya S. Tripathi, Assistant Secretary-General, UN Environment, Stephen Nolan, Managing Director, Financial Centres for Sustainability network (FC4S).
Our second event was arranged along with the institute for International Finance (IIF), the Paulson Institute, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The ‘Mainstreaming Sustainable Finance’ roundtable was an invitation-only roundtable for senior policymakers and industry leaders.
The event, now in its fifth year, is part of our ongoing efforts to help mainstream the ideas surrounding green and sustainable finance into the broader global financial system—and to engage with industry in helping to drive this shift. This roundtable was a timely and unique platform for the foremost players and thought leaders in this growing space and helped them take stock of developments, share perspectives, and prescribe tangible next steps.