“Ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account,” said Mark Carney, then governor of the Bank of England and currently UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, in a speech at the Guildhall in London in February 2020. Launching the Private Finance Agenda in advance of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November 2021, he outlined how the financial services sector can facilitate the transition to a net zero carbon economy.
In recognition of the need for urgent action on climate change, our ‘responsible finance’ edition of The Review builds on this framework in our ‘Road to net zero’ special report, expanding on each of Carney’s points in detail.
This edition follows the launch of the world’s first Green Finance Education Charter in June 2020 – a commitment by the CISI, the Green Finance Institute, and 11 other leading financial professional bodies in the UK and internationally to integrate responsible finance and sustainability into their service offering. The Charter forms an important part of the UK government’s ‘Pathway to COP26’.
Another organisation committed to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals is the Impact Investing Institute. We chat to its CEO, Sarah Gordon, a former Financial Times journalist, about the Institute’s initiatives and partnerships.
Other highlights include our biodiversity spread, an ethical dilemma about a criminal offence, and a look at 25 years of the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification in the UK, which includes interviews with long-standing CFP™ professionals.
Many thanks to George Littlejohn MCSI, senior adviser to the CISI and co-editor of this edition, for his assistance.
As ever, please get in touch if you have any comments or questions.
Jane Playdon
Review editor, CISI
Read the October 2020 flipbook edition of The Review