Policy Lever: Upgrading Governance
Examples
Key measures that could be taken include:- Principles: Adopting principles for a sustainable financial system to guide policymaking.
- Policy & Legal Frameworks: Considering impacts on sustainability when developing and reviewing financial regulations, financial sector development plans, and legal frameworks.
- Roadmaps and plans: Developing long-term national strategies and roadmaps, supported by coordination mechanisms.
- Regulatory Mandates: Exploring the impact of sustainability factors for existing mandates of central banks and financial regulators and adjust where necessary.
- Performance Measurement: Developing a performance framework to assess and guide progress in developing sustainable financial systems.
Impact
This is the area where there is least common current practice, but strong potential.Inquiry Publications
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The Financial System We Need: Aligning the Financial System with Sustainable Development
Date: 08-Oct-2015Download 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
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Making Waves
Date: 17-Apr-2018The 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
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The Financial System We Need: From Momentum to Transformation
Date: 29-Sep-2016Download 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
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Fintech and Sustainable Development – Assessing the Implications
Date: 14-Dec-2016The 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
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A Review of International Financial Standards as They Relate to Sustainable Development
Date: 22-Feb-2017The report, a companion to the second edition of “The Financial System We Need”, examines how the international financial standards currently relate to the goals of sustainable development and explores opportunities for better alignment as a way to promote greater stability, resilience and fairness to the financial system. The key messages are: Financial standards have
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Roadmap for a Sustainable Financial System
Date: 13-Nov-2017The objective of this Roadmap is to propose an integrated approach that can be used by all financial sector stakeholders—both public and private—to accelerate the transformation toward a sustainable financial system. This approach can bring policy cohesiveness across ministries, central banks, financial regulators, and private financial sector participants to focus efforts. The ultimate vision that
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Bangladesh Country Report
Date: 09-Oct-2015Bangladesh 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
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China Report
Date: 06-Oct-2015The 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
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Financing the Future
Date: 06-Feb-2017Italy’s Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, in partnership with UN Environment, launched the National Dialogue on Sustainable Finance in February 2016 to identify practical market and policy options to mobilize Italy’s financial system for sustainable development and climate action. The conclusions of the paper are: Italy faces a strategic opportunity to harness its financial
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Stock Exchanges and Sustainability
Date: 23-Dec-2015Stock exchanges have historically played an important role in economic growth and development through enabling effective capital allocation. However, exchanges and markets more broadly have changed over time, in structure, inter-connectedness and rate of activity. This has happened against a backdrop of growing recognition of the unsustainability of the current economic growth path in both
Further Reading
- Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Financial and Monetary System
UN (2009).
- Transforming Finance, A Charter for a New Financial System
The Finance Lab (2013).
- Good Financial Regulation: Changing the Process is Crucial
Fullenkamp, C., Sharma, S. (2011). The ICFR Financial Times Research Prize.
- Building A Stable And Equitable Global Monetary System
Erten, B.; Ocampo, J. Antonio (2012).
- Financial Reform and the Role of Regulators: Evolving Markets, Evolving Risks, Evolving Regulation
Caruna, J. (2015). BIS 24 February 2015. Basel: Bank for International Settlements.