On Friday 18 June 2021, G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group members met virtually to continue working on their key deliverables for 2021, which include sustainability reporting, sustainable investments and the multi-year G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap.
On 7 April 2021, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors addressed the urgency of fighting climate change and protecting the environment. These priorities were included in the fourth pillar of the updated G20 Action Plan.
In order to develop a forward-looking, common view of the challenges related to scaling up finance for supporting the objectives of the 2030 UN Agenda and the goals of the Paris Agreement, the G20 agreed to create a permanent forum for international cooperation on sustainability issues. To do so, Ministers and Governors agreed to upgrade the Sustainable Finance Study Group to a fully-fledged working group (thus renamed as Sustainable Finance Working Group – SFWG).
The second meeting of the SFWG was held virtually on 18 June 2021. The Group progressed with the work on the key deliverables for 2021, which include sustainability reporting, approaches to identify sustainable investments, and the role of international financial institutions in supporting the Paris Agreement. The Group also started a discussion on the multi-year G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap.
The SFWG delegates discussed an interim version of the Roadmap, which takes into account the contribution of several international organisations as well as suggestions gathered during a roundtable with the private sector, held on 17 and 18 May.
Priorities for future actions fall under five Focus Areas which concern: alignment of financial flows with sustainability goals; access to reliable and timely information on sustainability risks, opportunities, and impacts; assessment and management of climate and sustainability risks; leverage of public finance and incentives from public policies; cross-cutting elements such as innovation, digitalisation and transition finance. The Roadmap will also gather valuable input from the International Conference on Climate, which will be held in Venice on 11 July 2021. The final version will be agreed by SFWG delegates and submitted to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Banks Governors, ahead of their October meeting.
