Over the past decade there has been little progress on climate action when it comes to the finance sector - despite pledges made as part of The Paris Agreement to mobilise US$100 billion annually to support climate action goals, this target has not been met. A recent report by BankTrack: Banking on Climate Chaos 2021 shared the shocking statistic that the world’s 60 largest banks have poured US$3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement was signed! It’s clear that the action needed to back up the Paris Climate Agreement is not being delivered by the financial institutions.

But the rise of financial technology companies and increasing interest from the public in more ethical and environmentally savings and investment products is starting to have a transformative impact. Everyday people are finding new ways to get capital to flow to underserved, climate-vulnerable countries, communities and sectors

This has provided much-needed, patient, flexible and affordable finance to sustainable organisations who are struggling to access the finance they need to rapidly scale and grow.

It has also meant that people who want to invest their money to protect people and planet can finally access transparent and impactful products that are not being provided by traditional financial institutions.

During this breakfast briefing, you will hear from two of Europe’s leading impact investing platforms, Energise Africa and Lendahand, as well as number of strategic partners including UK aid, TCX, Camco and P4G about new approaches which are pioneering and challenging the norm to develop new models of blended finance that can deliver transformational change to the sustainable businesses and emerging economies of the future.

This interactive breakfast briefing will showcase how people-powered finance is enabling transformational climate finance to flow to climate vulnerable countries and sectors that have previously seen limited investment. We will look at how new models of impact investing can deliver the kinds of financial products that investors and investees want to see and which currently seem to be lacking in the market.

The session will specifically focus on how people-powered finance can be rapidly scaled to mobilise $billions in climate finance by: 

• Delivering easily accessible, transparent investment products for retail investors and sustainable businesses
• New approaches to make low carbon investing more accessible to everyday people in UK, EU and beyond
• New approaches to de-risking emerging economy investments for retail investors
• Lending in multiple currencies including USD and local currencies to make patient, affordable and flexible finance accessible to more businesses operating in emerging markets