Climate Finance Events & Governance: 

• European Union:
  • Recommendations on climate-related disclosures: In January 2019, the Technical Expert Group (TEG) published its report on climate-related disclosures. Based on this report and feedback received, the European Commission is now updating the non-binding guidelines on non-financial disclosures that accompany the non-financial reporting Directive (Directive 2014/95/EU).
    A consultation is open until Wednesday, 20 March 2019.
  • Proposal for a voluntary EU Green Bond Standard: The European Commission requested the TEG to prepare a report on an EU Green Bond Standard. The group is now inviting feedback on their preliminary recommendations for an EU Green Bond Standard, and their interim report outlining the status of the work conducted so far. A consultation is open until Wednesday, 3 April 2019.
• World Economic Forum: 
  • The Forum began with the publication of the Global Risks Report 2019. Extreme weather events, failure to act on climate change, and natural disasters continue to dominate the results of the annual Global Risks Perception Survey.
  • Japan’s Prime Minister, and host of the 2019 G20 meeting, Shinzo Abe, said climate action would be a top priority at this year’s G20. 
  • The World Economic Forum released the report: How to set up effective climate governance on corporate boards (see below)
  • Davos 2019 also saw strong calls for a new agenda for nature to complement action on climate and the ocean.
• 22nd meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board:the Board took steps to strengthen operations, reinforce standards and close policy gaps and approved nine new climate resilience and low emission projects totaling USD 440 million in GCF resources. Among them four projects were proposed by Supporting Institutions of the Initiative:
  • FP101 – USD 8.0 million for Resilient Rural Belize (Be-Resilient) with IFAD
  • FP102 – USD 29.6 million for Mali solar rural electrification project with BOAD
  • FP105 – USD 69.6 million for BOAD Climate Finance Facility to Scale Up Solar Energy Investments in Francophone West Africa LDCs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, the Niger, and Togo with BOAD
  • FP106 – USD 100 million for Embedded Generation Investment Programme (EGIP) in South Africa with DBSA.
    Congratulations to the teams!
• One Planet Lab & One Planet Summit 
  • The One Planet Lab met for the first time in Paris in early March. Led by the French government,, this network of high-level experts is intended to propose new ideas and new concrete commitments to accelerate the ecological transition. The One Planet Lab focuses on four priorities: climate, oceans, biodiversity and financing the ecological transition. In 2019, these four priorities are divided into 9 working groups ranging from combating plastic pollution to financing sustainable infrastructure and greening the Bretton Woods institutions. A number of Supporting Institutions of the Initiative are involved in the working groups.
  • The third edition of the One Planet Summit was held in Nairobi in mid-March. This first regional edition of the One Planet Summit highlighted the unique role of Africa as a global partner facing both challenges and opportunities, in particular in the field of innovative solutions for adaptation and resilience. A blogpost summarizing announcements made by Supporting Institutions of the Initiative will be available on the website early next week.

News on Supporting Institutions of the Initiative:

• The Global Green Bond Partnership (GGBP)convened at the Climate Bonds Annual Conference in London for its first formal sessions since its September 2018 launch at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco. Founding members of this partnership  include the World Bank, IFC and the European Investment Bank.
• The World Bank Group launched its Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. Under the plan, the World Bank Group will ramp up direct adaptation climate finance to reach $50 billion over FY21–25.
• EBRD and the World Bank are working with the International Hydropower Association and hydropower operators to develop an industry guide on physical climate risk management and climate resilience. The Hydropower Sector Climate Resilience Guide will be presented to delegates at the World Hydropower Congress at a workshop on 14 May 2019 co-convened by EBRD, the World Bank and the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund and a climate resilience focus session on 15 May co-convened by EBRD.
• HSBC was named part of Climate Finance Leadership Initiative. The Initiative launched in 2018 at the request of UN Secretary-General António Guterres is led by Michael Bloomberg and will deliver a report to be released at the UN Climate Summit in September 2019 highlighting best practices and opportunities for enhancing climate finance mobilisation.
• HSBC Global Research released several reports related to climate change:
  • Why the transport sector is next in tackling climate change
  • Green Bond Insight