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

This report summarizes the Sixth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group, held on 8-9 May 2017 in Venice. The discussions focused on scaling up green, low-emissions finance by improving climate finance tracking, evolving financial architecture in emerging markets, overcoming funding constraints for cities, utilizing innovative financial instruments, and enhancing climate risk disclosure to accelerate the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

• Significant progress has been made in climate finance tracking since 2011, though gaps remain in areas such as private adaptation finance, sustainable land use investments, and domestic public expenditure. Efforts to close these gaps include work by the EBRD and UNEPFI on energy efficiency finance, and a CPI, World Bank, and other-led effort for Sustainable Energy for All to track energy access finance.
• The current international climate finance architecture often overlooks cities, despite the fact that 80% of necessary mitigation actions involve them. Many cities in developing countries struggle to access capital markets; only 4% have access to international markets and 20% to domestic markets. To address this, participants suggested that multilateral development banks (MDBs) commit a share of funds directly to cities and that cities partner with development finance institutions (DFIs) to issue green bonds.
• Scaling up green finance in emerging markets requires tailoring financial institutions to local systems rather than relying solely on green banks. In some cases, it is more efficient to 'green' existing national development banks (NDBs) than to create new ones. Additionally, there is a need to engage local pension funds, which currently invest only a small proportion of their assets in local infrastructure projects.
• A lack of high-quality, bankable projects is often a more significant barrier to scaling investment than a lack of available capital. This is particularly evident in conservation projects, which receive only 2% of total climate finance despite their potential to deliver 30% of required emission reductions. For example, in 2015, USD 3.1 billion of private capital committed to conservation remained undeployed.
• There is a critical need for standardized, mandatory climate risk disclosure to help investors allocate capital effectively. France has led this by introducing mandatory climate change-related reporting for institutional investors. Participants emphasized that integrating scenario planning and stress tests is essential for informing credit risk assessments and business strategies.
• Implementing NDCs requires creating legal and policy frameworks to attract private finance. In Kenya, the government established a national Climate Change Act and a National Climate Change Action Plan to guide its commitment to reduce emissions by 30% compared to a 2010 baseline, though the government is now prioritizing adaptation over mitigation.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2017). Sixth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sixth-Annual-San-Giorgio-Group-Meeting-Summary.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Sixth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance. 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sixth-Annual-San-Giorgio-Group-Meeting-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Sixth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance |date=June 2017 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sixth-Annual-San-Giorgio-Group-Meeting-Summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2017sixth, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Sixth Annual Meeting of the San Giorgio Group: Expanding Green, Low-Emissions Finance}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sixth-Annual-San-Giorgio-Group-Meeting-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }