G20: Sustainable Finance Working Group intends to develop an action plan

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Ministry of Finance (MoF) adviser Geetu Joshi said that the SFWG (Sustainable Finance Working Group) intends to develop an action plan, including identification and analysis of existing capacity-building activities and identifying the existing sustainable finance skill gaps.

"As we all know, G20 is a group of 19 of the world's largest economies plus the European Union. There are two tracks in G-20, Sherpa Track and Finance Track. SFWG is one of the six working groups under the Finance Track. The sustainable Finance Working Group is one of the recent groups constituted under the Italian Presidency in 2021. It was established because there is a dire need to address the quickly depleting resources and the need to decrease the harmful effects of economic growth on nature and society," she said.

She said, "The G20 SFWG in Guwahati discussed three priority areas – Mechanisms for mobilization of timely and adequate resources for climate finance, enabling finance for the Sustainable Development Goals and Capacity building of the ecosystem for financing toward sustainable development. Climate change is a global issue, creating challenges for humanity. The Indian presidency recognizes that financial resources are extremely critical for climate action. The SFWG is discussing the mobilization of timely and adequate resources for climate finance. This priority issue had wide-ranging support. The background paper prepared by the Government of India for this priority was also supported as a good basis for discussion. As far as the issues are concerned, there was an agreement that the public sector and multilateral development banks lay a critical role in the mobilization of finance at scale and reasonable cost. All workshops planned during the meeting such as those supporting early-stage climate technology from infancy to deployment and the conference on the non-price policy measures were well received. All member countries felt that the discussion on priority was timely and was supportive of the priority and the workshops planned as side events to the meetings."

She added, "The SDGs are a set of 17 global goals set by the United Nations in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. The year 2030 has been decided to be the timeline to attain this. The COVID-19 crisis has further widened the SDG financing gap as the economies saw a fall in GDP. With only seven years left to achieve Agenda 2030, scaling-up up sustainable finance is urgently needed to respond to the challenges of a changing world. It is required that private funding may also be mobilized towards the attainment of these SDGs. With this in mind, India under its G-20 Presidency has taken the Enabling finance for the Sustainable Development Goals as one of the agenda for discussion. G-20 is being used to discuss how we can attract private capital so that we, along with the countries that need it, can utilize it towards fulfilling their SDG gaps. The deliberations on this agenda item have gone off well, and we are happy to have received support from the member countries and international organizations."

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