BACKGROUND

Over the past few years, green finance is making rapid strides and gaining bigger momentum. Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement, the whole world has committed to concrete and practical steps to deliver a low carbon and green economy. While varied sectors all over the world will continue to play a key role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, the success or failure of these efforts will lie with investors; with those institutions and individuals willing to back new technologies and infrastructure projects, and with the creation of sufficiently deep, liquid and resilient markets for them to access green products and services. It is therefore clear that the public and private sector will have to work hand-in-hand to realise investment of this scale. And this is where green finance is the key.

The launch of the Financial Sector Platform is to encourage public-private collaboration needed to support the smart design and effective scaling of market innovations and policy measures to advance green finance.

Launching the Financial Sector Platform will not only provide access to green finance, but also promote:

• The standardization of green practices
• Enhance the transparency of information
• Support market development for green investments at a global level and support other countries in developing and implementing national sustainable finance roadmaps
• Enable and support funding mechanisms aimed to mitigate the risk of investment in sustainability-related projects
• Support promotion of investment opportunities, bankability of project, and identification of alternative funding solutions
• Raise sustainable finance, provide public and market leadership on green finance