GFSC inspired by COP26 to keep focus on green

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission, which worked up the launch of the island’s first green finance product, the Guernsey Green Fund, in 2018, continues to address the topic in depth and breadth.

Last year it amended the code of corporate governance for the finance sector to add that boards should consider the impact of climate change on its business strategy and risk profile and, where appropriate, make ‘timely climate change-related disclosures’.

It said its intent was to encourage firms not so advanced in their sustainability thinking to prepare for a future where green considerations and disclosures are likely to become the norm and part of international standards.

The direction of travel has been strongly influenced by COP26 in Glasgow late last year.

‘We noted [in last year’s report] that environmentally friendly finance would become more economically important,’ said GFSC director-general William Mason.

‘At COP26 in November, the process towards making all financial services environmentally friendly took another leap forward. The commission, through its active membership of the Network for Greening the Financial System and the Sustainable Insurance Forum, will continue to participate fully in global moves to enhance the sustainability of financial services.

‘All firms, following our environmental amendments to the Code of Corporate Governance in 2021, need to consider how to adapt their business models as a matter of urgency as international standards on environmental sustainability are quite likely to be promulgated over the course of 2022.’