Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa and partners announce a series of measures to strengthen financial markets across sub-Saharan Africa.

“From progress in implementing green bonds to opportunities for the local pension sector and solutions to help the country’s insurance industry respond to climate change, the initiatives will enhance the strength and health of Nigeria’s financial markets, building the foundations for a stronger more resilient national economy,” said a statement from FSD Africa.

Can you really afford not to invest in diversity and inclusion?

Each year, discrimination at work around gender identity, ethnicity, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation cost millions of dollars to our national economies and companies. At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis has also demonstrated that inclusion and diversity matter more than ever. Therefore, embracing it as a core value is a must for a sustainable future of work.

But what can be done to make this ideal a reality for millions of workers and employers worldwide?

Tune in and listen to the Podcast to find out more!

? JOB OPENING

The Green Finance Platform is looking for a Technical Consultant.

This role will support implementation, capacity building and communications for the Aligning Finance Policies project.

A minimum of 3 years of accumulated work experience is required, including experience with sustainable finance, policy research and technical assistance to developing countries.

The deadline to apply is 14 April.

When it comes to climate disclosure standards, what's the difference between ISSB and TCFD?

The IFRS Foundation has shared a helpful guidance that summarizes key differences between the two standards.

? What are your thoughts on the ISSB Climate Exposure Draft?

⏰ The Exposure Draft is open for comments until 29 July 2022.

The EU's Extended Environmental Taxonomy

The EU Sustainable Finance Platform just released a report recommending how environmental components of the EU Taxonomy should be extended.

A major component of this proposed Taxonomy extension is the addition of four classifications for economic activities, based on their environmental harm and transition urgency:

? Significant Environmental Harm - Urgent Exit
? Significant Environmental Harm - Urgent Transition
? Intermediate Environmental Performance - Transition When Possible
⚪ Low Environmental Impact (LEnvl)

The aim of this extended labelling is to show where finance needs to flow to support transitions away from environmentally harmful activities. This would allow entities in impactful industries to tell their transition stories and access transition finance.

At the same time, identifying LEnvl activities will allow companies with low environmental impact to have full access to green finance for their green expenditures. In other words, they won't be excluded from green finance opportunities and the chance to make a positive contribution.

The EU Taxonomy will set a global precedent for economy-wide reporting on environmental sustainability and aligning green finance flows. Do you think this proposed Taxonomy extension does enough to classify economic activities?

The full report is linked below.

Hi everyone! Feedback request | Global Canopy invites all pension fund managers, asset managers, or representatives from financial institutions, non-governmental organisations, and Indigenous peoples and local communities for feedback on guidance for Deforestation-free Pension Funds.

Pension funds have a powerful influence over sectors and industries that are strongly connected to deforestation, conversion, and associated human rights abuses. Pension funds have the ability to help drive change not just within their own investments but across the finance sector more broadly.

To enable pension funds to address their exposure to these issues effectively, and in line with best practice, Global Canopy, alongside partners Make My Money Matter and SYSTEMIQ Ltd., are developing guidance to enable pension funds to identify, address, and eliminate deforestation, conversion, and associated human rights abuses from their investments.

The consultation document linked below is a detailed outline for guidance that is being developed; it is not comprehensive or complete but has been produced to gain feedback from stakeholders on the topics and actions included.

We are asking representatives from pension funds, asset managers, financial institutions, rightsholders, Indigenous peoples, local communities and NGOs for feedback. Please click the link below, follow the instructions and complete the survey by 5th April 2022.

If you do not feel you fit into one of the above groups and would like to review the document, or if you have any questions on this document or the associated surveys please contact the Global Canopy team at guidance [at] globalcanopy.org (guidance[at]globalcanopy[dot]org).

Enhancing disclosure to scale up sustainable finance in China and beyond

In the latest contribution to the GEF Aligning Finance Policies project, Cheng Lin of the Beijing Institute of Finance and Sustainability provides updates on China's green finance landscape.

Mainstreaming disclosure is an essential step towards aligning financial systems with sustainability, both in China and worldwide - but disclosure alone is far from sufficient to guarantee a sustainable financial future.

? What are examples of green finance measures that can support or build upon climate-related disclosure?

Yesterday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed "The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors," a regulatory measure that would require certain climate-related disclosures from companies.

Under the proposed rule, SEC registrants would have to report on climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition."

Companies would also be required to disclose their GHG emissions. This would include Scope 1 (direct emissions) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased energy); disclosing on Scope 3 emissions would also be required when material or the company has set a GHG emissions target or goal that includes Scope 3 emissions.

TCFD Chariman Mike Bloomberg, the TNFD, and others have applauded the proposed rule for aligning with TCFD recommendations. Several other jurisdictions worldwide have also already mandated climate reporting or announced moves towards it, including France, the UK, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico and South Africa.

The rule will provide phase-in periods between FY2023-2027, depending on the registrant's filer status; an additional phase-in period will be provided for Scope 3 emissions.

What are your thoughts on the proposed rule?

Press release: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-46
Proposed rule: https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2022/33-11042.pdf
Fact sheet: https://www.sec.gov/files/33-11042-fact-sheet.pdf

Making the Most of Gender-Lens Investing

Although investment in gender-diverse organizations, women-owned businesses, and companies catering to women’s preferences has grown substantially in recent years, it is still nowhere close to reaching its full potential. It is being held back by common misconceptions that fly in the face of a mounting body of evidence.