Minister of Finance attends high-level event on sustainable finance

The IPSF offers a multilateral forum of dialogue between policymakers responsible for developing sustainable finance regulatory measures to help investors identify and seize sustainable investment opportunities. The meeting and panel discussion today marked the occasion to take stock of the work of the IPSF to date, and to chart the priorities for the coming year.

Founded in October 2019 by the European Union and public authorities from Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kenya and Morocco, the IPSF is dedicated to international cooperation on scaling up sustainable finance to meet our environmental challenges. Norway joined the Platform in March this year. Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Senegal have also joined the Platform over the last year, bringing the total number of members to 14. The current IPSF member states represent around half of the world’s GDP, population and emissions.

Today, the IPSF is also welcoming the IMF as a new observer that supports the Platform together with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, the EBRD, the EIB, the IOSCO, the NGFS, the OECD, and the UNEP.

Today’s event confirmed that placing sustainability at the heart of the financial system is increasingly called for, not just by public authorities but also by investors and companies. The report published to mark the event sets out the steps IPSF members have taken so far, supported by global market trends favouring more environmentally conscious and responsible investment. While progress has been achieved, much more still needs to be done to meet our environmental objectives. The report also underlines the crucial role sustainable finance tools can play in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need for coordinated international actions in this context.

To spur these developments, work is now underway to compare detailed approaches to sustainable finance among IPSF members. A working group co-led by the EU and China will explore common ground in their respective approaches to classify green economic activities, so called ‘taxonomies’. Other working groups on environmental disclosures and green product standards are also foreseen.

This work will improve transparency and efficiency in global markets for sustainable finance, and contribute to unlocking increasing financial resources to help fund the transition to a green and more sustainable future.

• IPSF Annual Report (PDF)
• IPSF Fact sheet (PDF)
• Agenda for the meeting 16 October 2020 (PDF)