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In their joint declaration announced during Finance in Common (FiC) summit -organized by the French Development Agency– more than 450 Public Development Banks and their partners stated their willingness to contribute to the recovery and align with sustainable finance principles. Among announced commitments, PDBs committed to take into account and manage direct and indirect climate, biodiversity, environmental and social risks and opportunities, inspired by existing international initiatives and recommendations such as those of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) and Mainstreaming Climate Action in Financial Institutions.
They aim to enhance implementation of instruments that can shift investments to sustainable asset classes, such as using a shadow price of carbon, and provide adequate information on the degree of alignment of our portfolios with the Paris Agreement and on SDG reporting.
This online summit was the first world summit of public development bank, which took place in the framework the 3rd Paris Peace Forum, under the high patronage of Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and with the participation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The event examined the crucial role of PDBs in building a more resilient and sustainable world, both during the COVID-19 crisis and in the long-term. The summit also aimed to foster cooperation and reconcile the finance community in support of common action for climate and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In addition to the joint declaration, members of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) also made public their Common Position Paper on Biodiversity.
IDFC members commit to:
- Developing their biodiversity strategy or action plans, combining risk management, impact mitigation, as well as direct conservation finance, inspired by global good practice, policies and standards, in accordance with their governments’ guidance and priorities.
- Reaffirm their full support to address the direct drivers of biodiversity loss by mitigating negative impacts on biodiversity of their finance, using a range of approaches such as the implementation of environmental and social safeguards or guidelines, due diligence, off-setting, or the exclusion of activities that have harmful impacts upon biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- Reaffirm as well the importance of developing positive biodiversity impacts in their investment portfolios through nature-based solutions or other mainstreaming approaches.
- Reiterate the need to increasingly mobilize finance, build effective partnerships including with the private financial sector, and share experience to strengthen their contribution to the global biodiversity agenda, as they do for the objectives of the Paris agreement and the SDGs.
- Stress the importance of consistent and robust reporting methodologies on direct or indirect biodiversity investments and of sharing their reporting experience and perspectives with the broader finance community to improve mobilization, impact and visibility.
- Commit to actively exploring all opportunities to contribute to achieving the objectives of the future Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
- Recognize the links between social, biodiversity and climate finance and commit to progressively strengthen the convergence between these three overall finalities by developing approaches with multiple co-benefits, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
Read on at FiC
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