News and latest reports

2024, the year that sustainable finance goes offshore?

Catalysed by recent agreement of the ISSB standards, international finance centres are in the process of planning to implement international sustainable finance regulations, with the majority anticipate acting in the next 12 to 24 months, according to a survey conducted by the International Sustainability Institute. 

The purpose of the survey, undertaken in collaboration with GIFCS - the Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors – was to assess the true extent of the development of sustainable finance across the smaller international finance centres. 

Commenting on the results of the survey Dr Andy Sloan, founder of the ISI, said:

“It’s clear that regulatory pressures are the primary driving force for sustainable finance in the IFCs.  Ensuring consistency with international standards ranks as the most crucial factor for members in this regard.”

Undertaken during the third quarter of 2023, the survey ran to more than forty questions and assessed development across four pillars – institutional foundations; legislative and regulatory environment; market infrastructure; and community and stakeholders - in line with the UNEP model.  As well as being able to provide an overall assessment, given the geographic scope of membership, results were able to be to categorize results into the European, the Caribbean, India-Pacific, and Rest of the World regions to give an indication of any regional differences in approaches to sustainable finance.

John Aspden, Chairman of the GIFCS, said “GIFCS members are keen to adopt appropriate measures for addressing climate change risks and sustainable finance in their regulatory frameworks.  We were therefore very pleased to work with the ISI to facilitate this survey of GIFCS members, and hope that it is both useful and leads to increased effectiveness in implementing sustainable practices.”