Making Waves

Performance Framework: Flows

Many countries, as well as international development finance institutions are beginning to measure and report on actual flows of finance for sustainable development. There are as yet no harmonised standards, but common broad categories are often considered:
  • Green finance funded by, or directly leveraged by public investment
  • Commercial investment into key green sectors and product types
  • Flows of finance covered by environmental due diligence or environmental criteria
  • Value at risk from environmental hazards and associated policy shifts.
Countries that are building systems for measuring actual flows of green finance include Bangladesh, Brazil and China.

Inquiry Publications

  • The Financial System We Need: Aligning the Financial System with Sustainable Development

    Date: 08-Oct-2015

      Download the full report: [AR] [CH] [EN] [ES] [FR] [PT] [RU] Download the policy summary: [AR] [CH] [EN] [ES] [FR] [PT] [RU] This first edition of “The Financial System We Need” argues that there is now a historic opportunity to shape a financial system that can more effectively finance the development of an inclusive, green economy. This opportunity is based on a growing trend

  • The Financial System We Need: From Momentum to Transformation

    Date: 29-Sep-2016

    Download the policy summary: [AR] [CH] [EN] [ES] [FR] [PT] [RU] Download the individual chapters: Chapter 1: Mapping the momentum | Chapter 2: Harnessing financial technology for sustainable development | Chapter 3: Measuring performance | Chapter 4: Steps towards transformation Our follow-up annual report reveals a doubling in policy actions over the past five years to align the global financial system with sustainable

  • Making Waves

    Date: 17-Apr-2018

    The Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System was initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme to advance options to align the financial system with sustainable development. ‘Making Waves: Aligning the Financial System with Sustainable Development’ is its final, global report. This report reviews the Inquiry’s core analysis, summarizes progress made in aligning

  • Fintech and Sustainable Development – Assessing the Implications

    Date: 14-Dec-2016

    The report, a companion to the second edition of “The Financial System We Need”, assesses how the financial system’s core functions are likely to be disrupted by financial technology (“fintech”) innovations and how they could help – or hinder – efforts to align financing with sustainable development. It considers ways to: Unlock greater financial inclusion by

  • Accelerating Financial Centre Action on Sustainable Development

    Date: 12-Dec-2017

    Mobilizing the world’s financial centres is essential to make progress on climate change and sustainable development. The momentum towards a sustainable financial system is clear and yet insufficient to deliver the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The world’s financial centres now have a historic opportunity to help close this gap by accelerating

  • Financing the Transition – How Financial System Reform Can Serve Sustainable Development

    Date: 15-Nov-2016

    This report is focused on understanding how the growing number of policy and regulatory measures taken in the financial system can support a real economy in transition, seeking to answer the question: ‘what measures are most needed to deliver efficiency, effectiveness and resilience in ways that the financial system can contribute to specific sustainability priorities

  • Bangladesh Country Report

    Date: 09-Oct-2015

    Bangladesh has been a leader in developing policies to shape a greener and more inclusive financial system. It has a suite of green banking regulations and policies including concessional green refinancing, credit quotas for green finance and guidance and requirements on environmental due diligence. Green finance is growing but it remains modest compared to the scale of Bangladesh’s

  • Green Finance Progress Report

    Date: 11-Jul-2017

    The G20 Green Finance Synthesis Report adopted at the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou in September 2016 set out seven options identified by the G20 Green Finance Study Group (GFSG) to accelerate the mobilization of green finance. This paper highlights some of the progress made against these seven options in G20 members and internationally since June 2016.

  • China Report

    Date: 06-Oct-2015

    The Inquiry collaborated in an 18-month project, Greening China’s Financial System, carried out by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Finance Research Institute (FRI), Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council. The aim was to develop specific proposals for greening China’s financial system, based on an analysis of current practice in China

  • Green Finance Opportunities in ASEAN

    Date: 15-Nov-2017

    This report lays out ways in which the ASEAN region can unlock this investment and protect its people, environment and economies. It provides an analysis of green investment opportunities in the region from 2016 to 2030, assesses the characteristics of those opportunities, and estimates current green finance flows. Based on a literature review and expert

Further Reading

  • Moving to a Low-Carbon Economy: The Financial Impact of the Low-Carbon Transition

    Nelson, D.et al (2014). Climate Policy Initiative. October 2014.

  • Mobilising Investment in Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure

    Kennedy, C. and Corfee-Morlot, J. (2012). OECD Environment Working Papers, No. 46. Paris: OECD Publishing.

  • IDFC Green Mapping for 2013

    International Development Finance Club (2014). Frankfurt: IDFC.

  • Defining and Measuring Green Investments: Implications for Institutional Investors’ Asset Allocations

    Inderst, G., Kaminker, C. and Stewart, F. (2012). OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions, No. 24, Paris: OECD Publishing.

  • Long Term Finance and Economic Growth

    G30 Consultative Group on International Economic and Monetary Affairs (2013). Washington D.C.: Consultative Group on International and Monetary Affairs.

  • Recognising the Cost of Inaction. Value at Risk from Climate Change

    EIU (2015). Economist Intelligence Unit.

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