South Pole Group joined some of the largest names in German finance last week in the signing of the "Frankfurt Declaration", a joint declaration of intent to build more sustainable financial sector infrastructures in Germany.
The declaration forms the basis of the "Accelerating Sustainable Finance Initiative," which was launched by exchange operator Deutsche Boerse with the support of the German Ministry of Finance and development bank KfW. Signatories to the declaration, who alongside South Pole Group also included the likes of Allianz, Commerzbank, HSBC and Union Investment, have committed to the "holistic mobilization" of sustainable financial markets in Frankfurt.
"The participants in the Frankfurt Sustainable Finance Initiative aim to actively work together on the basis of their own core business, towards implementing sustainable milestones, such as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, realisation of the Paris Agreement and also the design of the green finance focus of the German G20 presidency," said the Frankfurt stock exchange said in a statement.
At the launch conference, the state secretary Michael Meister quoted recommendations from a South Pole Group study as one of the concrete steps that the Ministry of Finance is taking to understand investment and climate change. The aim is for the conference to be established on a permanent basis. Individual working groups will be created and another event is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018.
The tides are turning in the European financial sector as increasingly more measures are taken to establish money flows into sustainable business. The "Frankfurt Declaration" reflects a growing trend taking place across Europe to prioritise sustainable milestones, foregrounding the potential of green finance to not only mobilise climate action but also create viable economic opportunities in the market.
This piece was adapted by an article by Daniel Brooksbank on Responsible Investor.