INTRODUCTION

Environmental degradation and climate change threaten sustainable development. Often, environmental costs, especially in the long term, outweigh the gains of economic activities that generate them. Concern for the environment has become a central theme in the agendas of public policymakers.

In the past years, it has also risen on the agenda of financial policymakers and regulators. Climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly seen as a threat to both financial and price stability. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ‘the growth of employment and income in a green economy is driven by public and private investment to economic activities, infrastructure and assets that allow reduced carbon emissions and pollution, enhanced energy and resource efficiency, and prevention of the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services’.2 Green finance is becoming a topic that is receiving increased global attention.

The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognizes that natural disasters occur three times more than they did 50 years ago.

Beyond economic losses, the consequences for food security and nutrition are acute.3 The impacts of climate change its consequences are increasingly being felt across all countries globally. Implications of climate change disproportionately affect the most vulnerable segments of society, including women, youth, forcibly displaced persons and persons with disabilities. Still, there are opportunities linked to reducing environmental degradaetion and curbing the impacts of climate change.

Financial policymakers and regulators play an important role in managing climate-related risks, mobilizing capital for resilience building and lowcarbon development, and promoting financial inclusion. Green funding seems to be the key to achieving green and sustainable growth. The financial sector will have to play an important role in allocating resources to sustainable investments by incentivizing through the mobilization of green funds, and by penalizing financing that negatively affects the environment. The transition to a resilient and low-carbon economy, aligned to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, is also increasingly a concern for financial policymakers and regulators.

The IGF policy area has emerged at the intersect between green finance and financial inclusion.4 IGF aims to support adaptation and mitigation of both climate change and environmental degradation through financial inclusion. This is a rapidly developing policy area pioneered by the members of the AFI network.

The AFI members recognized the potential role of financial inclusion to drive climate action, thereby adopting the Sharm El-Sheikh Accord on Financial Inclusion, Climate Change and Green Finance in 2017.5

The links between climate change and environmental degradation, vulnerable groups, social inequity and tension, and financial stability have been emerging more clearly in the past years and financial policymakers and regulators have in some cases started to address both environmental and social risks, through initiatives and adaptation of policies and regulation. With that specific purpose, the implementation of an NFIS aims to ensure that all individuals, households and businesses – regardless of income level – can access and effectively use appropriate financial services and products to improve living standards, and to enable both resilience building and small-scale climate mitigation.6

2 UN. UN Environment Programme. Green economy. Available at: https:// www.unenvironment.org/regions/asia-and-pacific/regional-initiatives/ supporting-resource-efficiency/green-economy 3 UN. UN News. 2021. Natural disasters occurring three times more often than 50 years ago: new FAO report.Available at: https://news.un.org/ en/story/2021/03/1087702 4 AFI. 2020. Inclusive Green Finance: A Survey of the Policy Landscape (Second Edition). Available at: https://www.afi-global.org/publications/ inclusive-green-finance-a-survey-of-the-policy-landscape-secondedition/ 5 AFI. 2019. Sharm El Sheikh Accord on Financial Inclusion, Climate Change & Green Finance. Available at: https://www.afi-global.org/publications/ sharm-el-sheikh-accord-financial-inclusion-climate-change-greenfinance/ 6 AFI. 2020. Inclusive Green Finance: From Concept to Practice. Available at: https://www.afi-global.org/publications/inclusive-green-financefrom-concept-to-practice/