Prince Charles asks global investment community for commitments to deliver on SDGs

The Prince of Wales yesterday convened representatives from the entire global investment chain to discuss financial solutions to deliver on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at a summit hosted by one of his charities, the Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S).

Roundtable discussions held at the summit, held at St James’s Palace, brought together about 60 players from the investment ecosystem – including asset owners, asset managers, central banks, stock exchanges, investment consultants, credit rating agencies and financial institutions (see list below) – who provided feedback for a research report which will be published later this month.

Prince Charles said at the summit that he was encouraged to see the research report, developed by A4S and Aviva, containing “recommendations for each link in the investment chain”.

He said the report builds on the recent work by groups such as the UK’s Social Impact Investment Taskforce (now Global Steering Group for Impact Investment), the City of London Corporation’s Green Finance Task Force, the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

In a challenge to delegates, he said: “I must urge you to think about what more you might be able to do to accelerate progress. I look forward to hearing the results of your discussions today and of the real, tangible actions that you might personally commit to take.”

They will also explore opportunities to scale up actions to build a sustainable finance system capable of supporting the achievement of the SDGs develop a pathway towards achieving the Paris Agreement.

Among the delegates were Hiro Mizuno, Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Japan’s $1.3trn Government Pension Investment Fund; Dawn Turner, CEO at the £28bn Brunel Pension Partnership Limited; Mark Wilson, Group CEO of Aviva; and Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the UK’s Environment Agency.The following organisations took part in yesterday’s A4S Finance Leaders’ Summit:
ABN AMRO
Alecta
Allianz Global Investors
Alphabet
AMF Pension
Aon Hewitt
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Aviva
Bank of America
Bank of England
Barclays Pension Fund
BBVA Group
BlackRock
BNP Paribas Asset Management
British Airways Pension Investment Management
Brookfield Asset Management
Brunel Pension Partnership
United Nations
CFA Institute
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada)
City of London Corporation
Dutch Central Bank
Environment Agency Pension Fund
Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
Financial Conduct Authority
Financial Reporting Council
Fitch Ratings
GlaxoSmithKline
Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Government Pension Investment Fund
Heathrow Airport
HSBC
HSBC Bank Pension Trust (UK)
International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
Itaú-Unibanco
Legal & General Investment Management
Lloyds Banking Group
London Stock Exchange Group
Moody’s Investors Service
Nordea
Northern Trust Asset Management
Pennon Group
PwC
RBC Capital Markets
Rotman School of Management
Royal Bank of Canada
Royal DSM
S&P Global
Solvay
Stora Enso
Tesco
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
The Crown Estate
The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S)
Treasurer to Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall
Willis Towers Watson
World Bank Group
World Federation of Exchanges