In association with the UN’s Finance Centres for Sustainability, Guernsey Green Finance will be hosting its annual Sustainable Finance Week in June. A fixture in the private wealth and sustainable finance space, the event will be bringing together global policy makers, opinion formers and professionals from across private wealth and sustainable finance to discuss private capital financing sustainability against the backdrop of CoP 26 later in 2021.

This hybrid event will mix a physical conference here in Guernsey with live broadcasts and panels from the financial and private wealth centres of London, New York, Zurich and Geneva. 2020’s event brought together over a thousand participants from 50 countries, with speakers from numerous leading global sustainable finance organisations including the United Nations; the CityUK; the UK’s Green Finance Institute; the BVCA; the Hong Kong Green Finance Association; and the Swiss Sustainable Finance Institute. 2021’s line up of speakers will be published shortly.

It is recognised that as much as $30 trillion in private wealth is poised, waiting to be harnessed in order to deliver the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The conversations around COP26 are, rightly, centred on the policy dialogue. We believe, however, that a key challenge is the need to connect the current high-level policy dialogue with practical guidance and tools to harness the pools of private wealth controlled by family offices and other structures.

Mobilisation is one of four key pillars of the finance hub for COP26. Private capital is pivotal to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Day two will examine the motivation of owners of private capital together with the drivers of "private private" capital, looking specifically at the impact of family offices on sustainable investing.

Our panels from Switzerland, the UK and Guernsey on this day will also consider the extension of the historic philanthropic approach of high net worth and the move to incorporate a similar impactful approach within overall investment strategies while maintaining financial returns.

Guernsey is a respected global finance centre specialising in the servicing of private wealth. Guernsey is strongly committed to the sustainable finance agenda as both a member of United Nation’s Finance Centres for Sustainability Global Network, the Network for Greening the Financial System and the UN’s Sustainable Insurance Forum. Guernsey Green Finance, established in 2018, is Guernsey’s sustainable finance initiative.

Guernsey Green Finance’s objective is to leverage Guernsey’s expertise, particularly in administering private wealth, to help lead in routing private capital and private equity to climate finance. Our approach has been to develop knowledge, services, tools and products to connect owners of significant private wealth, and their advisers and investment managers, to the climate change agenda.

More information to follow.

For any queries on this event, please contact Emily Lowe.