Green Finance Institute

With over £3trn of capital in the UK's insurance and pension fund sector and a complimentary desire to invest in secure and stable long term cashflows, it should be relatively straightforward to generate private investment in the green infrastructure transition across the UK. However, to catalyse this we need to establish funding platform solutions that bridge the 'execution gap' represented by: (a) a lack of performance data in new infrastructure that defeats the prudential investment mandates of many private funds (b) a lack of incentive to create new asset classes in critical sectors in the absence of targeted public policy solutions. The Green Finance Institute has been working with the Association of British Insurers Investment Delivery Forum and engaging with the relevant public bodies to facilitate this. These solutions bring together the supply, demand and centralised policy support needed to unlock scaled investment that could save the UK taxpayer billions of pounds - paying for themselves environmentally and economically. Read more about this here: https://lnkd.in/eqUqtEM7 #insurance #pension #greentransition

With the increased risk of flooding due to a changing climate, there is increasingly a need to finance natural flood management interventions alongside traditional infrastructure to protect lives and livelihoods. In March 2024, the Green Finance Institute published the Financing Natural Flood Management (NFM) report, in which a lack of demand for flood risk outcomes from private sector buyers was highlighted as a major barrier to scaling the delivery of NFM.    In this follow-on paper, we explore the role of the insurance sector as potential buyers of NFM outcomes. By working with insurers and other stakeholders, we have co-developed an innovative NFM Research Fund proposal. Designed to leverage R&D funding from the insurance sector, the NFM Research Fund would act to further the evidence base for NFM, build the commercial understanding of NFM within the insurance industry, and scale the funding available for NFM projects. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e99Mqunh Marsh, Finance Earth, Dan Hird, The Rivers Trust, WTW, JBA Risk Management, WWF-UK, The Wildlife Trusts, Aviva, Association of British Insurers, Markerstudy Group, RSA, Flood Re #nature #climatechange #flood #insurance

Today, the National Wealth Fund Task Force, chaired by Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE (CEO of the Green Finance Institute) has published its recommendations for Rt Hon Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, to ensure that private finance plays a core role in mobilising capital into decarbonising the economy. The National Wealth Fund will use £7.3 billion in public sector funding to unlock at least £20 billion in private sector finance to catalyse investment into new infrastructure and economic transition to power growth and jobs across the UK and create the foundation for a low-carbon economy.  This model has been used successfully in other countries and by the Green Finance Institute in other low carbon projects across the UK. Download here: https://lnkd.in/gTYymrgU Mark Carney; CS Venkatakrishnan, Amanda Blanc (Aviva); David Vickers (Brunel Pension Partnership Limited); Hugh Crossley (Equitix); Shaun Kingsbury CBE (Just Climate); António Simões (Legal & General); Paul Thwaite (NatWest Group); Lisa Quest (Oliver Wyman); Carol Young (Universities Superannuation Scheme (Ltd).

At the GFI, we continue to champion the need for high integrity carbon markets and are proud of our contribution to supporting the work of The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum.   Today we’re pleased to announce that our CEO, Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, is joining BeZero Carbon’s Advisory Board to provide independent advice and guidance on the future of carbon markets.   Carbon markets have the potential to channel much needed finance into #ClimateSolutions. However, robust social and environmental guardrails, as well as human rights safeguards – including those of indigenous peoples and local communities – need to be in place to ensure positive impact. Ratings agencies such as BeZero Carbon can provide investors with the confidence needed to direct capital into climate projects whilst adhering to the highest standards of integrity, transparency and fairness.   Read more here: https://lnkd.in/errpD_7q 

Over the last year, the Green Finance Institute alongside leaders in the transport sector, have produced a series of whitepapers, exploring electric vehicle chargepoint utilisation data. To finance the deployment of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) up and down the country, it is critical to understand utilisation, performance and consumer behaviour data to ensure the right chargepoints are in the right places to facilitate the #EVtransition. Join our expert panel, moderated by the GFI’s Associate Director Juliet Flamank, to discuss the findings of this series, and what it means for delivering an efficient and reliable charging network: Jade Edwards, Head of Insights, Zapmap Prof Colin Herron CBE, Newcastle University Charlie Gilbert, Partner, Field Dynamics   Register here: https://lnkd.in/ejzRhTqB

The Green Finance Institute was proud to once against host the flagship finance event series at London Climate Action Week 2024. We convened some of the world’s leading experts across the public and private sectors to discuss the solutions to advancing nature finance, adaptation finance, decarbonisation of the built environment, transition finance, and mobilising capital for a just transition in the Global South, all of which we will be producing greenprints for in the coming months.   Thank you to our partners JPMorganChase, Standard Chartered, Lloyds Bank Corporate & Institutional, BNP Paribas and Laudes Foundation #LCAW2024

“We have to deal with the realities of the balance sheet and the fiscal situation in the UK. We don’t have $369 billion to provide tax credits in the way the US has, but what we do have in London and in the UK is one of the deepest pools of private capital in the world.” What is Britain’s answer to Biden’s climate funding? Alastair Marsh at Bloomberg spoke to the CEO of the Green Finance Institute Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE about new ways to bring in institutional investors to finance the #NetZero transition. The GFI is developing a Green Transition Fund, alongside the Association of British Insurers and other private sectors partners, to increase the flow of funding for green projects, such as electric vehicle chargers, sustainable aviation fuel, and energy efficiency measures for homes. Read here in Bloomberg: https://lnkd.in/eu9niwEy

For the world to be sustainable, we need to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In #FinancialServices, sustainability refers to how durable and resilient our system is. This third issue of the Green Finance Quarterly is about how these worlds are destined to collide – how preserving our natural world will lead to better and more sustainable outcomes. Corporates and financial institutions are facing a broad range of risks due to a changing #Climate. Read more here about the risks and solutions we’re developing to overcome them here: https://lnkd.in/daf4gCFr If you would like to subscribe to the Quarterly, and to stay informed with news from the GFI, please email comms@gfi.green.

For the transition to #ElectricVehicles, we need a data-led deployment of charging infrastructure to ensure that the right chargepoints are in the right place, at the right time to fit in with drivers’ patterns of life. The third paper in our utilisation whitepaper series considers how understanding consumer behaviour is critical in this process to make informed decisions. By collecting and sharing more data on consumer behaviour, we can begin to build a better picture of the state of market which can then be used to forecast future demand and lead to a smarter deployment of charging infrastructure. Read here: https://lnkd.in/exnbi2aC #EV #Finance #Battery #Transport Field Dynamics

Corporates and financial institutions are on the frontlines of investing and mobilising private sector finance for #NatureRestoration. Our analysis developed alongside the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford, University of Reading, UNEP-WCMC and National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) shows that nature loss poses a material economic and financial risk to the economy – at least equivalent to climate risk. We need business and finance to show leadership on the nature and biodiversity crisis and are proud to work with businesses that are doing so. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gq7xxmhc Paul Polman; Abigail Herron (Aviva Investors); Emmanuelle Bury-Lucas (BNP Paribas); Jenny McInnes (HSBC) Bevis Watts (Triodos Bank); Martin Berg (Climate Asset Management); Ben Goldsmith (Menhaden Capital); Richard Speak (Finance Earth); Timothy C. (Oxbury Bank Plc); Philip Asplin (United Utilities).