Green Finance + G20 = ?

Up to today, we do not have a precise and commonly accepted definition of green finance for two reasons. First, many publications do not try to define the term – for instance neither IFC (2013) nor Spratt and Griffith-Jones (2013) include a definition of green finance and second, the definitions that are proposed vary significantly.

Green finance comprises:

the financing of public and private green investments (including preparatory and capital costs) in the areas of environmental goods and services, the financing of public policies (including operational costs) that encourage the implementation of environmental and environmental-damage mitigation or adaptation projects and initiatives (for example feed-in-tariffs for renewable energies) 

Frontier mirror funds

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Friends Provident International has launched two mirror funds to help clients benefit from the economic growth of frontier markets and global environmental sustainability themes.

Jim Henning, funds marketing and research manager, unveiled the Alquity Africa fund and Pictet Environmental Megatrend Selection fund. Both are domiciled in the Isle of Man and principally available to offshore investors in Asia and the Middle East.

The Alquity Africa fund invests in a portfolio of companies across the African continent. A minimum of 25 per cent of the fund's net management fee of 1.9 per cent is donated to support development initiatives in the areas in which it invests. The fund's goal is to help create 100,000 sustainable jobs in Africa by 2012.

The shape of fiscal crisis to come

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The American fiscal condition faces a perfect storm. The outlook for the medium term has deteriorated markedly, important causes being the Great Recession and the extension of the Bush tax cuts. Nor are the projections cheerful in the long term. And these issues will come to a head. On 4 March, the spending authority that has kept the US going in the past budgetary period is set to expire.
Last year, Congress did not pass a budget, and a special measure was put in place to legally underpin spending in the absence of an official budget. This "stop-gap" bill needs to be replaced. Another deadline is looking also: the day the US hits its debt ceiling. By law, the budget deficit must not exceed $14.3tn. It will likely reach this maximum at the end of May. To raise the ceiling would require an act of Congress.
Democrats and Republicans have hurried to the barricades in preparation for the budget battle. Actually, the term "barricades" is misplaced. Democrats and Republicans will dig themselves deeper into the trenches and only raise their heads above the parapet if the other party makes a move. Obama's 2012 budget proposal is no more than a long wishlist that offers few real solutions to the debt problem.

London’s sustainable finance awards

The FT and IFC recognise institutions that show leadership in blending environmental, social, governance attributes

The Financial Times and IFC, a member of the World Bank, have launched the FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards to recognise institutions across the financial industry that have shown leadership and innovation in integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into their business.