EU to internationalise Action Plan with launch of sustainable finance platform at IMF in Washington DC

The European Union is taking a major step towards internationalising its work on sustainable finance via its EU Action Plan with the high-level launch of a new International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) in Washington DC on Friday (October 18). The IPSF will be officially launched as part of this week’s Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at its DC headquarters, giving the platform a high-level boost. The IMF Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bring together central bankers, finance ministers, parliamentarians, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern. Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the European Commission, in the presence of Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, will launch the IPSF on Friday afternoon (ET). Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, started the top job at the IMF on October 1, replacing France’s Christine Lagarde. France, a lead country on sustainable finance, has been a major backer of Georgieva, who was formerly CEO of the World Bank and a previous European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. The IPSF be a new multilateral forum where organisations and networks from countries across the world can share, exchange and potentially align their initiatives on sustainable finance. It also aims to mobilise private finance globally for green and climate-friendly investments. The forum will facilitate exchanges on best practices and, where appropriate, coordinate work on initiatives to channel investment towards green projects.The IPSF is aiming for considerable global political clout. Country members will be represented by national authorities at finance/treasury ministry, central bank or supervisor level, and must be responsible for developing environmentally sustainable finance policies and initiatives in their respective jurisdiction. The IPSF has already assembled a heavyweight number of international organisations to oversee its work as ‘observers’. They include the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEPFI), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The IPSF said: “The environmental and climate issues we are facing today are global and request a global response. That response lies in the transition to a green economy, which requires major investments. Public investments are necessary, but not sufficient. The global nature of financial markets offers a great potential to help all countries on their transition path, by linking financing needs to global sources of funding. The members of the International Platform are jurisdictions willing to advance on environmentally sustainable finance.”