India set for G20 Summit: Driving sustainable finance for global growth and stability

NEW DELHI: As India prepares to host the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, its presidency’s commitment to fostering global harmony and green finance stands as a prominent testament.

The country has given importance to global multistakeholder collaboration as a means to tackle common challenges like the climate crisis and shows the path of global harmony and green finance.

When New Delhi rolls the red carpet for Heads of State from all across the globe, it will also be pertinent to see how the subject of green finance and its applications are taken up during the summit.

For the same, the Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) has been put into action which aims to mobilize sustainable finance as a way of ensuring global growth and stability and promoting the transitions towards greener, more resilient and inclusive societies and economies.

The Group is tasked to identify institutional and market barriers to sustainable finance to develop options to overcome such barriers and contribute to a better alignment of the international financial system to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

Notably, on April 7, 2021, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors endorsed the reestablishment of the SFSG and upgraded it to become a working group under the title “G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group”.

It was earlier in 2016 when a Green Finance Study Group was launched, the function of which was to identify institutional and market barriers to green finance and options to enhance the mobilisation of private capital for green investment.

During 2016-18, the Group facilitated the formation of a global consensus on the need to scale up green finance and focused global attention on a range of key topics for the development of sustainable finance worldwide, the official website of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) reported.

It was further in 2018, that the group’s remit was expanded to consider additional aspects of sustainable development, following which the group was renamed Sustainable Finance Study Group (SFSG).

The First G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) was held in Guwahati, Assam on 2nd-3rd February 2023 where members showed wide-ranging support and cooperation for the SFWG work plan in 2023.

The Second G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency took place in Udaipur, Rajasthan from March 21 to 23.

During the three-day long meeting in Udaipur, over 90 delegates from various countries who are members of the G20 as well as those who have been invited by the Indian Presidency along with International Organisations held various discussions on the agreed-upon work plan and priority areas for 2023.

The 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.

A G20 Leaders’ declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, stating Leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.

The next G20 presidency is going to be taken over by Brazil in 2024, followed by South Africa in 2025.

(ANI)