Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance

A summary of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group (SGG), held in February 2016, which focused on transitioning from climate diplomacy to the implementation of green, low-emissions finance following the Paris Agreement.

• The San Giorgio Group identified significant gaps between the ambitions of proposed climate actions and the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 'well below 2°Celsius', as well as a gap between the goals in Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) and the actual capacity of countries to implement them.
• To improve climate finance tracking, the SGG suggests moving beyond measuring only the volume of finance to include development impacts such as job creation, energy access improvements, and emissions reductions, which would better align with the poverty alleviation and economic development goals of developing countries.
• Cities are critical for climate action as 70% are already experiencing climate change effects and over 90% of urban areas are coastal and at risk of flooding. However, municipal finance is hindered by low credit ratings due to poor tax collection or central government caps on credit.
• Climate risk insurance is viewed as a tool to increase the appetite for innovative resilience technologies, but it is only viable in a 1.5-2°Celsius world; a 4°Celsius world is considered difficult to insure based on current practice.
• Regional insurance approaches, such as the African Risk Capacity Insurance Company, are highlighted as a way to increase access and lower premiums for developing countries through diversification across nations.
• To mobilize private investment for NDCs, the SGG emphasizes the use of securitization instruments like YieldCos, green bonds, and Asset Backed Securities (ABS), noting that standardizing regulatory approaches is necessary to provide the liquidity private investors require.
• There is a call to examine the sectoral biases of monetary policy in the US and EU to determine if climate considerations are integrated, as central bank refinancing operations may not be sector neutral.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2016). Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5th-Annual-Meeting-of-the-San-Giorgio-Group-Summary.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance. 2016. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5th-Annual-Meeting-of-the-San-Giorgio-Group-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance |date=February 2016 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5th-Annual-Meeting-of-the-San-Giorgio-Group-Summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2016fifth, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Fifth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2016}, month = feb, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5th-Annual-Meeting-of-the-San-Giorgio-Group-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }