Catalysing the Green Development Plan

A redesign of the global finance system to place climate action, sustainable development and prosperity for all at the heart of a purpose-driven international financial architecture was the subject of a seminar at Saddlers’ Hall on May 23rd. A collaboration between the Financial Services Club, City-based financial services and technology consultancy Z/Yen and fund managers hexTerra, the seminar was entitled “Catalysing The Green Development Pact Through Financial Architecture Reform”.

Dr Steve Waygood, Chief Investment Officer at Aviva Investors Plc and co-author of a new report “Act Now” argued that nothing short of the scale and ambition of system-change represented by the Bretton Woods conference some 80 years ago that invented the post-war international trading and financial system was required to help structure a green transition commensurate with the physical risks we face from rising global temperatures and the net-zero effort required. The UK’s new Transition Plan Taskforce was cited a model of what individual governments should be doing.

Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli of Z/Yen outlined the world-leading work done in the City of London over recent years to facilitate the green transition. He also made a strong parallel case for appropriate market solutions to turbo-charge progress to net-zero, citing in particular the examples of Chile and Uruguay, where stringently-designed and closely-monitored performance and sustainability bonds were showing what can be achieved in this area. Be optimistic, he argued; pessimism is for better times!

Panels explored the problems and possibilities of carbon pricing, and the use of blended public and private finance to encourage the green transition in developing countries where the need was greatest but funds were scarce and government structures often inadequate to the task.