Financial Centres for Sustainability announced its Asia-Pacific Centre, a step the organization says is important in scaling up the financing required for climate action and sustainable development.
The Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S), a partnership between leading financial centers and UN Environment, is an international network of financial centers focused on accelerating the expansion of green and sustainable finance.
The new center will be located in Shanghai Lujiazui Financial City; the center will work with other cities in the Asia-Pacific region to promote the innovation and development of sustainable and green finance. Lujiazui is an international financial center with a high concentration of financial institutions, dynamic capital markets and a vast financial talent pool, FC4S says.
The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that an additional 1.5% in global investment would be needed to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “Mobilizing the world’s financial centers will be crucial to achieving the system transition that the IPCC has recommended,” FC4S says.
Lujiazui Financial City and Casablanca Financial City also signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in sustainable finance, green finance and exchange of resources, while Lujiazui Financial City unveiled the Green Finance Integrated Development Platform, the first regional online green finance platform.
The platform provides a “practical place to exchange information on green projects, capital and finance from home and abroad, enabling companies and institutions to match supply and demand, and integrate resources,” according to Lujiazu Financial City.
The global network met in Shanghai earlier this month. The organization says a Wall Street Working Group on Sustainable Finance is being formed, and is considering joining the network to represent New York.