Pre-COP panel to explore IGF potential to help solve climate emergency

AFI member institutions will shortly gather in Costa Rica to discuss how financial regulators are using Inclusive Green Finance (IGF) policies that contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and help tackle climate emergency.

Financial sector stakeholders are increasingly driving inclusive climate mitigation and resilience building efforts, underscoring how their involvement can help align national efforts and extend financial services to those most in need.

The side event will be held on 9 October, marking the first time that the network and its newest working group will feature at events related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) process and at the pre-Conference of Parties events, a series of dates that build up to the 25th UN climate conference in Chile (COP).

AFI members are already leading the charge by enacting a range of policies that center around the network’s pioneering framework called the “4Ps of Inclusive Green Finance”. Through the 4Ps, members can distill their efforts under the categories of provision, promotion, protection or prevention.

Among them, for example, are provision efforts by panelist Reserve Bank of Fiji to introduce mandated lending quotas on green finance, as outlined in IGF’s pivotal survey of its policy landscape.

The session will also feature insight from Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras de Costa Rica (SUGEF), and will be moderated by the director of the Institute for Planetary Security.

Panelists are expected to share their knowledge and experience on how their work is contributing to implementing the Paris Agreement and what more can be done to help its implementation. They will also to discuss how financial sector regulators can be involved in the national and global processes related to helping tackle climate emergency. The network’s adoption of collaborative action to confront climate emergency is outlined in both its Sharm El Sheikh Accord and Nadi Action Agenda.

AFI launched its IGF Working Group at the 2019 Global Policy Forum with the goal to develop financial inclusion policy solutions that have positive outcomes for the environment, focusing on communities that are most vulnerable to climate change.

AFI’s Inclusive Green Finance workstream is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

COP is the decision-making body of the UNFCCC, which sets out the basic legal framework and principles for international climate change cooperation as a potentially a major threat to the world’s environment and economic development.