Join CPI’s Dharshan Wignarajah for this upcoming panel from the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), which is part of their ‘Walking the talk: Getting serious about the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ event series.

Join Katie Kedward, Policy Fellow at IIPP as she chairs a panel discussion with Samantha Power, Sustainable Finance Specialist at The World Bank, Fathimath Musthaq, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Reed College and Dharshan Wignarajah, Director of Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) on ‘The SDGs as an asset class? Getting serious about green finance for development’. Followed by questions from the audience.

Financial institutions and policymakers are increasingly aware of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and biodiversity loss, and their developmental implications. In recent years, a captivating narrative within mainstream conservation circles has been that the profit motive of firms can be harnessed to achieve environmental and social goals. Among financial actors the appeal of market-led solutions has manifested in calls for SDG-oriented Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), natural capital valuation frameworks, and the creation of new green financial asset classes such as biodiversity offsets.  

Yet, how do these trends towards financialisation and ‘assetisation’ interact with the ‘on-the-ground’ realities of achieving the SDGs? What trade-offs might be at play when aligning developmental, climate- and biodiversity-related outcomes with the requirements of global financial markets? What role should public financial institutions, including central banks, play to manage these dynamics? This panel event will explore these themes and questions in a stimulating conversation between academics and policymakers. 

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #WalkingTheTalkSDGs.