Finance & Sustainability

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The Finance sector has a critical role to play to achieve our Sustainability goals.

The Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) provides recommendations to help organisations gather and use information on the material financial impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities, including those related to the global transition to a lower-carbon economy. They are adoptable by all organisations with public debt or equity in G20 jurisdictions for use in mainstream financial filings.

The Little Book of Investing in Nature provides an essential overview of the area of biodiversity finance at a time when governments and international negotiators are urgently seeking pragmatic solutions for the twin crises of climate change and the loss of nature.

A4S combines technical expertise with broad reach within the finance sector. They provide guidance and convene senior leadership to inspire action, transform decision making and scale up. A4S’s work is led by A4S network members – finance leaders who promote practical action for sustainability in their organisations.

As BCG explain, many major institutional investors are incorporating ESG metrics into their capital allocation and stewardship requirements. The shift to sustainable finance - which has evolved beyond socially responsible investing to include asset management and ownership - has important implications for investors and companies alike.

As this piece from Accenture outlines, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations are at the forefront of financial decisions, supported by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an increased awareness of the need to address climate change.

IFC works with financial institutions to introduce environmental, social, and governance standards, as well as risk management to their lending practices. We also work to promote stability of financial systems in developing countries, and channel finance to responsible companies.

Do you know how energy-intensive the Bitcoin algorithm is? It demands large amounts of computational power to validate transactions. If it were a country, Bitcoin's annualised estimated carbon footprint would be similar to New Zealand's, at about 37 million tons of CO2 (note: this is not the case for all cryptocurrencies).