Financing for Climate and Development

At the second Finance in Common (FiC) Summit on 19 and 20 October 2021, 500 public development banks could jointly raise their ambitions to support sustainable development globally. The fastest growing development bank in the world, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), plays a crucial role for infrastructure investments in Asia where the majority of future infrastructure projects will take place. A framework report produced by Germanwatch and collaborating NGOs from Asia analyzes the AIIB’s opportunities to align with the Paris Agreement and suggests ten climate-resilient and pro-poor principles for more sustainable and socially inclusive infrastructure.

COP26 is often considered the most important since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015. Its context underlines the urgency: In the summer of 2021, people across the globe experienced extreme weather events and their consequences. The climate summit in Glasgow – in conjunction with the G20 summit shortly before – holds the potential to significantly accelerate climate protection efforts worldwide.

Due diligence affects all companies, as it enables to properly assess relevant risks and impacts. While investors and customers show growing awareness of companies' impacts along the value chain, many companies still provide limited detail. In the sixth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure” we examine how corporate due diligence legislation relates to sustainable finance and what questions a legislative proposal needs to answer to avoid greenwashing and support comparable due diligence.

No company can afford to ignore the financial risks of climate change. This also applies to small and medium-sized enterprises. To reduce these financial risks for companies and investors, it is crucial to be transparent. In the fifth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure” we examine how small and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from forward-looking reporting requirements.

This year will be key for future climate policy and especially for sustainable finance in Germany and Europe. Sustainable finance plays a crucial role in improving climate protection and sustainable growth. To this end, Germanwatch joined forces with the Alliance for Corporate Transparency in order to push towards greater corporate responsibility and disclosure requirements to meet the EU and Paris climate targets.
This is the fourth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation”, in which we aim to shed light on the need for and benefits of forward-looking reporting requirements in a changing EU regulatory environment.

For a year and a half, representatives from the real economy, the financial sector, academia and civil society fought hard to reach an agreement on how Germany could become a prime hub for sustainable finance . On February 25, the final report of the German government's Sustainable Finance Advisory Council (SFB) was published, with ambitious recommendations on how to make the financial market more sustainable: Shifting the Trillions - A Sustainable Financial System to facilitate the Great Transformation. It is now the government's turn to translate the recommendations into an effective strategy and initiate the first legislative changes before the end of this legislative term.

The Paris Agreement sets out the ambitious task of aligning all financial flows with its goals to avoid the worst impacts of warming. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have an important role to play in making this goal a reality.

The Paris Agreement sets out the ambitious task of aligning all financial flows with its goals to avoid the worst impacts of warming. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have an important role to play in making this goal a reality. Their development mandates, technical expertise, and track record on climate finance mean that MDBs can lead the way by helping developing countries avoid fossil fuel-intensive development pathways, by developing the necessary standards and investment criteria to assess the alignment of investments with the Paris Agreement’s goals, and by helping to mobilise increased volumes of climate finance.