Corporate and development banks want their capital to reach the smallest and most impactful of SMEs in frontier markets. Traditional credit ratings and risk assessments can get in the way.

The London Stock Exchange Group’s head of sustainable finance strategic initiatives wants climate data to redefine the act of indexing.

The World Bank is issuing ‘outcomes’ bond structures for niche sustainability themes and with new financing mechanisms. Like blue bonds, they are probably going to need some rule-setting.

A team of once-public sector bankers and officials is launching a new private equity fund that aims to identify ‘climate winners’ from the transition to a decarbonized economy. It has identified key industries but its central thesis is regulation.

The global clubs charged with defining what pace of transition is both scientifically and politically acceptable are only as good-willed as their members.

Failure to mobilize the finance needed to meet the Paris Agreement will be devastating. As those flows to overleveraged countries and companies now stall, radical steps are needed.

Regulators are starting to take a more messaging-based approach to sustainable finance, but stopping greenwashing won’t automatically lead to a transition to net zero.

The 28th Conference of the Parties starts in Dubai tomorrow. Dubbed the finance COP, conflicting priorities could turn it into a fossil fuel investor roadshow.

Data hoarding, ESG illiteracy and credit risk are roadblocks for regional banks looking to establish sustainable supply-chain financing programmes in the Gulf, just as COP28 approaches.

Some big improvements need to be made in all areas of ESG, but it might be useful to stop trying to reconcile it with how markets function.

Ahead of COP28, the sector needs to focus on lending for energy efficiency in the emerging markets before climate tech startups in developed markets, if decarbonization is the goal.

Some people think that international climate conferences are nothing more than a talking shop. The Secretary General of the UN wants to change all that – with another conference.