B4NZ

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the 2024 B4NZ Impact Report: "Commitments into Action"🎉! In a world where sustainable finance is essential for a net-zero future, B4NZ has become a powerful advocate for impactful, pre-competitive collaboration. Our latest report details four years of progress and the road ahead, showcasing the collective strength and commitment of the B4NZ community. Here are some of the highlights: 🌿 Driving Decarbonisation: B4NZ is translating ambitious climate targets into tangible action, tackling challenges in sectors like SME decarbonisation, greening the built environment, and accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture. 🤝 Strengthening Networks: We’re bridging gaps between policymakers, industry, and civil society, ensuring diverse voices shape a resilient, sustainable financial system. Partnerships with organisations like the OECD - OCDE, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the High-Level Climate Champions underscore our commitment to scalable, collaborative solutions. 🌍 Global Leadership: From COP26 to COP30, B4NZ is driving international dialogue and capacity building toward innovative approaches to mobilising sustainable finance. 💼 Member Momentum: B4NZ’s membership spans 24 diverse institutions—from leading banks and fintech firms to essential technology providers—illustrating the breadth and scale of cross-sector support for real economy decarbonisation. With members active in 60+ countries, our commitment to global net-zero action is unwavering. Explore the report to see how B4NZ and our ecosystem are shaping future policy interventions and solutions to accelerate sustainable flows toward the real economy 👇

🏛️ 🌿 Hansard to Headlines: Your Weekly Green Policy Update This week, clean energy took centre stage in Westminster, with major reforms to planning, infrastructure, and grid connections. But concerns remain over sustainable finance. Here’s what you need to know: ⚡ Clean Energy Takes Priority - The Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to remove barriers and speed up approvals for wind, solar, nuclear, and hydrogen projects. Key changes include: “First ready, first connected” system for grid access, cutting wait times by up to 7 years. - Unlocking £200 billion in investment. - Faster decisions on 150+ major projects this Parliament. 🔗 Read More: https://lnkd.in/evYpcXJF  🚜 No New Green Farming Finance - The government closed new applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) due to high demand, with no new funding until after the 2025 Spending Review. - Existing agreements remain, but critics warn the move harms small farmers and weakens food security and climate goals. 🔗 Read More: https://lnkd.in/e3ux7Qp3 🌬️ Onshore Wind Fast-Tracked - A draft statutory instrument reclassifies 100MW+ onshore wind and solar as Nationally Significant Infrastructure, fast-tracking approvals. - Existing smaller projects continue under previous planning rules. - A significant step in scaling up UK renewables. 🔗 Read More: https://lnkd.in/eSNiJgVr  🔍 What do you think? Will these changes accelerate the net zero transition, or is more support needed? Let us know in the comments. Victoria Atkins Jayne Kirkham Tim Farron Alex Sobel Cat Smith Markus Campbell-Savours MP Charlie Dewhirst Andrew Pakes Perran Moon Ellie Chowns Christopher Hinchliff Martin Vickers Roz Savage MBE Andrew Snowden MP Vikki Slade Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Jessica Brown-Fuller Danny Chambers

Insurance in a Changing World: Insights from The Conduit 💭 🌏 Without insurance, we cannot manage the ever-growing risks we face today. And as we learned at The Conduit’s Insurance in a Changing World event, what is uninsurable is uninvestable. From cyber threats to climate disasters, insurance is no longer just the last line of defence—it must be embedded in early-stage decision-making. We need prevention, protection, and proactive thinking to tackle root causes, not just provide short-term survival solutions. A few key takeaways from the discussions: 🔹 Data is strategic—we need better platforms, early warning systems, and quality data. 🔹 Collaboration is critical—we must move from conversation to action. 🔹 Insurance is the ‘big new old idea’—it holds one of the largest pools of investable capital after pensions. 🔹 The government has a crucial role—through consistent strategy, blended finance, and regulatory frameworks. 🔹 The insurance industry must be involved from the start, integrating investment, data, and innovation to create resilient societies. 🔹 The Bridgetown Initiative and parametric insurance were highlighted as ways to unlock capital for emerging economies, where insurance can be a game-changer in disaster response and recovery. One analogy stood out—Rowan Douglas CBE compared insurance to a doctor’s check-up. Just as a doctor helps manage high blood pressure before it leads to a major health crisis, insurance should be used to mitigate risk before disaster strikes. Above all, we cannot wait for grey-sky days to act. We’ve seen how quickly the world can come together in a crisis—now we must apply the same urgency to climate risks, resilience, and economic stability. Huge thanks to The Conduit Club for hosting and for launching an insurance group to continue these crucial conversations. It’s clear: insurance isn’t just necessary—it’s a paramount enabler. At B4NZ, we are working with insurers to integrate insurance into the net zero transition. By leveraging our political network and partnerships across business, finance, and policy, we advocate for insurance as a key financial enabler, push for regulatory reforms, and ensure insurance is embedded in global climate finance discussions. Get in touch to find out more.

💡 B4NZ Member Spotlight: Kamma Climate Welcome back to the B4NZ Member Spotlight Series! At B4NZ, we are proud to collaborate with an incredible network of financial institutions, corporates, policymakers, and innovators, all working together to drive meaningful progress towards a net-zero future. Each month, we shine a light on one of our market-leading members, showcasing their pioneering work and how we collaborate to accelerate the transition to net zero. This month, we’re featuring Kamma Climate—a data and analytics leader transforming how the financial and property sectors tackle climate risk, emissions reporting, and retrofitting. 🔎 Who is Kamma Climate? Kamma Climate is a market-leading provider of climate data and analytics, helping mortgage lenders and property professionals navigate climate risks, regulatory requirements, and retrofit opportunities. Built on cutting-edge geospatial technology and predictive modelling, Kamma’s data engine is charting the course to net zero for UK properties. Its insights were instrumental in the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) Seventh Carbon Budget, which provides key policy recommendations for decarbonising 29 million UK homes. Their partnerships with Atom bank, Octopus Real Estate, and Pepper Money UK are ensuring that the financial and property sectors are not just prepared for climate regulation—but actively leading the transition. 🎯 Pioneering Data for Decarbonisation Kamma Climate started 2025 with a landmark project in collaboration with the Climate Change Committee (CCC), delivering a comprehensive housing dataset that mapped the UK housing stock into 11,000+ property archetypes. These insights played a key role in shaping the Seventh Carbon Budget, demonstrating that: ✅ Low-cost energy efficiency measures can cut emissions in most homes. ✅ Homeowners will invest when clear financial returns exist. ✅ Grouping efficiency upgrades maximises benefits and ROI. By delivering high-quality, granular data, Kamma is ensuring policymakers, lenders, and industry leaders can make informed, data-driven decisions that accelerate the decarbonisation of the built environment. 🤝 Kamma Climate x B4NZ: Collaboration in 2025 Kamma’s work directly aligns with B4NZ’s Built Environment Workstream, which advocates for EPC reform and deep retrofits. Their data-driven insights are strengthening B4NZ’s efforts to improve EPC accuracy, ensuring lenders can properly assess climate risk and identify new financing opportunities to support retrofitting. Building on this shared mission, we’re looking forward to further collaboration in 2025, including: ✅ Engaging lenders on climate transition strategies ✅ Strengthening data-driven policy recommendations ✅ Advancing the conversation around retrofit finance 🔗 Explore More: kammaclimate.com Stay tuned for more spotlights on our incredible members throughout the year! Orla Shields Joseph W. Roman Malin-Hiscock 

🌍 Registration is now open for Reset Connect London 2025, the award-winning sustainability and net-zero event! As a partner of Reset Connect London, we invite you to join us on 24-25 June at Excel London to navigate the evolving sustainability landscape. Join us to: 🔹 Stay ahead of regulations – Get insights on EU policies like CSRD & CSDDD, corporate accountability and sustainability disclosures 🔹 Access capital and solutions – Find investors, suppliers and strategic partners to advance your business transformation goals 🔹 Boost your workforce and impact – Discover strategies to enhance employee engagement by 16% and attract top Gen Z talent through meaningful sustainability commitments 💡 Don’t just adapt—lead the way! Register now: https://lnkd.in/e5xcFKGr #Sustainability #NetZero #ESG #ResetConnect #RCL25 #LondonClimateActionWeek #LCAW2025

🚀 Unlocking the Power of Smart Energy Data B4NZ has submitted its response to the UK government's consultation on the Energy Smart Data Scheme, an initiative designed to enable secure data sharing to empower consumers and accelerate the net zero transition. B4NZ highlights that a well-designed scheme is crucial for scaling green finance, improving emissions measurement, and ensuring financial institutions and businesses have the data they need to decarbonise. However, its success depends on real-time, standardised energy data and seamless integration with financial systems. Key considerations for an effective Energy Smart Data Scheme: ✅ Reliable, real-time data: The scheme must ensure accurate and standardised energy data to support sustainability reporting, financing decisions, and policy tracking. ✅ Green finance enablement: Financial institutions need trusted emissions data to develop products like green loans and investments, aligning capital with net zero goals. ✅ SME accessibility: The scheme should offer low-friction solutions for SMEs to monitor and reduce their carbon footprints, helping them access finance and cut costs. ✅ Trust, transparency, and consumer control: Data sharing must be secure, user-friendly, and consent-driven, ensuring consumers and businesses have full control over their information. That's why we're championing Perseus, a pioneering framework that applies Open Banking principles to energy and emissions data—unlocking capital for businesses committed to net zero. Read our full response to the consultation here: https://lnkd.in/e8JB4fVc Icebreaker One Open Banking Elena Pérez Celis

🌍 City & Financial Global's Climate Transition Plans Summit! 🌍 We're excited to announce our support for the Climate Transition Plans Summit, taking place on March 24th in Central London! This summit will provide in-depth, practical guidance on drafting and using transition plans, addressing both corporate strategies and the needs of stakeholders such as banks, investors, and regulators. The expert speaker panel will delve into key topics including: 💡 The development of global standards for transition plans under IFRS 💡 The future of nature in transition planning 💡 Transition finance and the impact of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive 💡 Best practices for drafting transition plans with real-world case studies 💡 Legal considerations, metrics, and emerging assurance markets The summit is designed to provide crucial insights for businesses navigating the complex world of climate transition, offering valuable tools to effectively plan and execute a sustainable future. Register now and get a 20% discount off your ticket with the code: TRA3B4NZ Registration Link: https://lnkd.in/ekNu8C2Q Looking forward to connecting with fellow professionals as we build momentum for a sustainable future together! 🌱

A fascinating discussion at the City & Financial Global Managing Physical Climate Risk Summit yesterday on sourcing accurate data for climate adaptation planning. B4NZ Chief Executive, Heather Buchanan joined Amir Sokolowski (CDP), Cassie Bremner (CFRF), and Dr Richard Millar (Climate Change Committee) to explore the challenges and opportunities in leveraging data to build climate resilience. Thought-provoking insights on the importance of collaboration, transparency, and innovation in addressing physical climate risks. A huge thank you to City & Financial Global for bringing together such a vital conversation— we look forward to continuing this dialogue! 

Great to see FinTech-Tables highlighting my pitch for our SME Data Taskforce in their #ClimateCollaborationForum write up. The Taskforce and our Secretariat have been heads down over the last few months delivering on our ambitious mandate to radically simplify reporting requirements for SMEs across investment portfolios and corporate value chains. As we gear up towards the end of Phase 1 of the programme, we are seeking feedback on our core outputs and asks to the market. So far, we’ve been developing: 📄 A UK SME Standard, backed by industry and Government and aligned to international standards, focused on GHG/Climate metrics which baselines disclosure asks for small and medium sized businesses. ✅ A corresponding data quality framework that promotes the move towards automatable, permissioned data frameworks. If you are tackling issues related to SME data coverage and consistency across supply chains or lending portfolios, we want to hear from you! As we approach launch of our Phase 1 outputs and recommendations in June, please reach out to collaboratively shape these recommendations with us and get involved. B4NZ Hannah Cool Heather Buchanan William Thorn Aidan Murley Ian Davey

The Willow Review Publishes Key Recommendations to Accelerate SME Sustainability 🌱 🚀 B4NZ welcomes the publication of the Willow Review’s recommendations, which call for coordinated action across government, SMEs, and the financial sector to drive sustainability and unlock the commercial case for a greener economy. As a proud member of the Willow Review’s Sustainable Finance Task Force, B4NZ is fully committed to delivering on these recommendations, ensuring SMEs have the support they need to transition to net-zero while maintaining their competitiveness. Through our SME Workstream, B4NZ is: 📌 Mobilising the Financial Sector for SME Decarbonisation 📌 Empowering SMEs with Access to Green Finance 📌 Streamlining Sustainability Reporting 📌 Fostering Collaboration Across the Financial Ecosystem 📌 Leading in Green Finance We're also leading critical initiatives like Project Perseus to simplify sustainability reporting for SMEs, reducing complexity and unlocking access to capital. Together with government, SMEs, and financial institutions, B4NZ is helping turn the Willow Review’s actionable framework into real change for a sustainable, competitive economy. Read the full set of recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/eJR4wU7u