UN sustainable finance centres network establishes base in Dublin, home of this year’s Climate Innovation Summit
A United Nations programme, supported by EIT Climate-KIC, which commits finance centres around the world to put sustainability and green at their core, will establish its base in Dublin — the home of this year’s Climate Innovation Summit.
The Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) network Dublin base will be supported by an investment of €1.5 million by EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s leading public-private innovation partnership focused on climate innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Sustainable Nation Ireland chief executive Stephen Nolan will be the network’s strategic adviser.
The new secretariat will co-ordinate a network of cities committed to the expansion of green and sustainable financial services. The FC4S network, founded by the UN environment programme, also includes London, Frankfurt, Paris, Toronto, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Zurich.
FC4S Europe, supported by EIT Climate-KIC, will develop a common European assessment tool to evaluate climate and sustainability credentials for financial centres. It will pursue collaboration, raise awareness of sustainability issues and assist with the design and delivery of development plans within financial centres yet to fully embed “the green finance agenda” within their activities.
The network will hold its inaugural meeting at the 2018 Climate Innovation Summit, EIT Climate-KIC’s annual event connecting business leaders, sectoral professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs and the foremost thinkers to share expertise and best practice on the solutions that accelerate climate action. This year’s summit will focus on innovation for sustainable finance, in particular the role of financial ecosystems.
Minister for Finance, Ireland, Paschal Donohoe, who will launch the FC4S at the Climate Innovation Summit, said he was delighted FC4S network had chosen Dublin as its European base. “Mobilising the world’s financial centres is essential to make progress on climate change and sustainable development,” he added.
Between 2021 and 2030, according to the European Commission, Europe requires €177 billion in additional yearly investment notably in clean energy to keep the increase in global temperature to well below 2 degrees, as agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
EIT Climate-KIC chief executive Kirsten Dunlop said transforming the financial sector so it could accelerate transition to a zero-carbon economy “necessitates not just new relationships with the finance sector, but new business models, new ways of accounting, reporting and understanding social and environmental value”.
The Climate Innovation Summit 2018 will take place in Dublin from 6-8 November with speakers including vice-president for Energy Union at the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, economist Mariana Mazzucato and Paschal Donohoe, minister for finance, Ireland.
Registration is now open. Find out more by visiting the website here.
News published on Climate KIC
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