More than 120 countries have committed to net zero targets by 2050, requiring systemic economic transitions on an unprecedented scale and with the finance sector playing a leading role. Green finance will power the transition, ensuring capital flows to the firms, investments, projects and technologies looking to create a sustainable, low-carbon world. To achieve net zero, every professional financial decision must take climate change and broader sustainability factors into account. Green and Sustainable Finance provides a comprehensive guide to the application of common green and sustainable principles and practices in banking, investment and insurance to help finance professionals embed these in their daily activities and decision-making. Focusing on the necessity of mainstreaming green and sustainable finance globally, this book includes a clear explanation of the science underpinning climate change. Green and Sustainable Finance covers a wide range of green finance products and services in retail, commercial and corporate banking, insurance, investment and fintech. It provides an overview of emerging regulation and international market frameworks and standards, particularly in relation to climate and environmental risk. Consideration is also given to the ethical dimensions of green and sustainable finance, including how professionals can promote market integrity and take active steps to avoid greenwashing. Endorsed by the Chartered Banker Institute as the core text for the benchmark Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance, this book is essential reading for finance professionals and students, and individuals working to embed sustainability in business, policy and regulation.

Apply green and sustainable finance principles and practice in banking, investment and insurance to aid the transition to a low-carbon world

Combining theory, empirical data, and policy this book provides a fresh analysis of sustainable finance. It explains the sustainability challenges for corporate investment and shows how finance can steer funding to certain companies and projects without sacrificing return, speeding up the transistion to a sustainable economy.

This handbook deals with various financial instruments, policies, and strategies in a policy-oriented approach for financing green energy projects. Recently, global investment in renewables and energy efficiency has declined, and there is a risk that it will slow further, Clearly, fossil fuels still dominate energy investments. This trend could threaten the expansion of green energy needed to meet energy security, climate, and clean-air goals. Several developed and developing economies are still following pro-coal energy policies. The extra CO2 generated from new coal-fired power plants could more than eliminate any reductions in emissions made by other nations. Finance is the engine of development of infrastructural projects, including energy projects. By providing several thematic and country chapters, this handbook explains that if we plan to achieve sustainable development goals, we need to create opportunities for new green projects and scale up the financing of investments that furnish environmental benefits. New financial instruments and policies such as green bonds, green banks, carbon market instruments, fiscal policy, green central banking, fintech, and community-based green funds are among the chief components that make up green finance. Naoyuki Yoshino is Dean, Asian Development Bank Institute and Professor Emeritus, Keio University. Jeffery Sachs is Director, Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Wing Thye Woo is Professor of Economics, U.C. Davis. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is Assistant Professor, Waseda University.

This book provides a detailed yet succinct overview of sustainable finance, with a specific focus on its origins, its policy focus and the practitioner dimension. With fossil fuel companies still attracting investment and subsidy across the world, the book describes how we can reverse these incentives, using the power of finance to tackle the climate and ecological crises. The world of finance is moving beyond the era of ethical investment and into a future where all financial companies will have to report the climate impact of their investments. This is the first stage towards full-scale ESG reporting (Environmental, Social and Governance). Since financial reporting depends on information provided by companies who receive investment, this has huge implications for non-financial reporting by all large companies. The timeline for these legal changes is short for what will be a transformation of financial accounting and investment. The book also covers the related issues of climate finance and the role of central and public banks in funding the transition to sustainability, and how we can ensure accountability for countries bearing the brunt of the impact from those with the largest responsibility for historic emissions. This book will enable those working in these fields to update their knowledge and skills, and brings together the author’s practical experience as an MEP with her academic insight as the first professor of green economics.

Sustainability thinking is rapidly gaining traction. It offers an inspiring vision for the future of the world and provides significant business and investment opportunities. Based on insights from over 300 empirical studies, this book explores the possibilities in the field of renewable energy finance, carbon trading, and sustainable investing. In addition, it describes innovative finance mechanisms – such as green bonds and peer-to-peer lending – that may further spur environmental and social sustainability. By taking an empirical, fact-based approach, this book aims to provide investors, business executives, and policymakers with a more thorough understanding of how sustainable finance can create value for business and society. Key words: Sustainable finance, renewable energy finance, cleantech, green investing, sustainable investments, responsible investments, carbon trading, carbon finance, ESG, impact investing.

This book offers a comprehensive discussion of how green finance has been growing thus far and explores the opportunities and key developments ahead, with particular emphasis on Europe. The main features of the market, the key products, the issue of correctly defining green finance, the main policy actions undertaken, the risk of green washing and the necessary steps to mainstream green finance are discussed in depth. In addition, the book analyses some highly relevant aspects of the market that so far have not been sufficiently explored in the policy, industry and academic debate. This includes the potential role of digitalisation and blockchain in fostering green finance, the crucial role of the effective financing of the agriculture to reach climate and environmental targets and the possible relationship between sustainable finance and other forms of "alternative" finance. This book will be of interest to academics, practitioners, financial institutions and policy makers involved in green finance and to the finance industry in general.

The book provides readers with essential insights into key issues in connection with planning, developing and financing sustainable energy projects in China that are relevant for practitioners, investors and developers involved in the emerging sustainable energy sector. It offers readers a deeper understanding of these contemporary issues by drawing on the lessons learned in real-world sustainable energy and green finance development activities in China, which are driven by central planning and policy implementation and complemented by investments and finances from public-private partnerships.

This book sheds light on current issues in sustainable finance through an in-depth analysis and discussion of relevant sustainable products and sustainable initiatives of several financial institutions. This edited collection critically presents and discusses several relevant theoretical issues, case studies of innovative financial products and sustainable institutions, as well as empirically investigates issues related to both financial and social performance. The book focuses on several innovative products across the sustainable finance ecosystem, including social impact bonds, crowdfunding and green bonds. Similarly, the book spotlights the sustainable investment strategies of institutions ranging from family foundations to asset managers.