French and Indian Experts Gather to Accelerate Climate Financing in line with India’s Presidency of the G20

The Green Indian Financial Systems Initiative – GIFS Initiative – was thus devised to facilitate dialogues and discussions between actors and global finance experts on greening the Indian financial system in early 2022.. By gathering a community of like-minded finance practitioners composed of banks and financial institutions from India and France, and willing to participate to the greening of the Indian financial system, GIFS Initiative expects to widen and shape the discourse around greening the financial ecosystem and support its operationalization through the Indian institutions.

Following COP 26, India set itself ambitious goals: energy independence by 2047 as well as a commitment to net zero by 2070. Current regulatory and oversight frameworks do not address this holistically. This contributes to information asymmetries and the inability to integrate environment and climate change risks into banks' risk management strategies and systems. Added to this is a marked shift in global demand, where investors increasingly view environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures as a hedge against investment risk.

French and Indian experts and leaders gathered to discuss the importance of greening the Indian financial system, particularly in view of India's presidency of the G20 in 2023. Round tables between the various financial stakeholders green have facilitated the sharing of knowledge on the issues and expectations from a multi-actor and multi-expertise action perspective.

It is a recognized label within the Indian financial system, with over 300 stakeholders, including 15 partner banks. It engages in a dialogue with the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) on the subjects of risks relating to finance, enabling access to climate data and other relevant information to facilitate climate financing.

The Director General of AFD, Mr. Remy Rioux was in Mumbai to attend this year’s 3rd GIFS conference. He said: “Greener system, not only financial, is a first step for more climate finance. These unparalleled challenges require states, districts, cities, institutions and citizens to embark on a new journey that I call polylateralism; instead of acting unilaterally, bilaterally or multilaterally, we must act on all these levels at once. No institution could have this kind of impact on its own. But together we can push for concrete, at-scale transformation!”

Mr. Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman & MD of SIDBI, said that “GIFS intends to complement the G20 presidency of India by enhancing preparedness on msme green financing and strengthening the enterprise eco system. Our endeavour is to bring stakeholders on one platform as also imbibe good practices, align them to our national mission including contributing to capacity building of demand and supply side of green Indian financial system. GIFS believes that ‘financing the green’ can be effectively enabled by ‘greening the finance’ i.e. embedding the ESG and SDG in lending value chain”.

Finally, Mr. Anshu Bharadwaj, CEO of Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation added that: “With nations around the world drawing consensus on climate-induced loss and damage in Sharm El-Sheikh, climate risk has become integral to the changing growth paradigm and economy. GIFS aims to play a critical role in building capacity and knowledge on financial exposure to climate risk along with enhancing climate investment for green technologies. It would also seek to support the Indian G20 presidency in 2023, percolating learnings from India and France on climate risk integration, while providing a platform for diverse stakeholder perspectives in emerging and developed economies among the G20 nations.”

A joint declaration between the organizers was signed during this 3rd GIFS event, strengthening further the GIFS dynamic in the coming years. A network of women experts in climate finance was also launched on the occasion, aiming to strengthen the gender focus of the initiative as well as the training and expert development components.

For reminder, the objectives of GIFS Initiative are threefold:

• bridging the Indian climate financing gap – only 13% of the green investments needed to achieve the Indian NDC objectives are made, including through the development of adapted climate strategies for the financial sector;
• assist sector players (regulators, supervisors, banks and financial institutions) in developing and implementing responsible financial practices and strengthening their resilience to climate and energy transition;
• encourage technical and political dialogue between the various actors in the country - while India will be the presidency of the G20 from December 2022 and will benefit from increased power of influence.

Press contact: 

AFD : Arabella SEEBALUCK, Regional Communications Manager for South Asia

Email: seebalucka@afd.fr

Tel.: +91 96677 08489