27 September 2022: The UAE successfully concluded its participation in the fourth and last Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2022, which was held under the Indonesian Presidency on 26 and 27 September 2022. The meeting was held at Bali, Indonesia, and sought to discuss the final version of the working group’s deliverables during 2022, and provide members with an update on the progress made on the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap.
Thuraya Al Hashemi, Projects Manager at the Ministry of Finance represented the UAE in the meeting. G20 members, invited countries, representatives of international organisations, and SFWG partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the UAE team shared recommendations related to the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, such as emphasising the need to assess the impact of the initiatives presented by the group and international organisations. That, in addition to the importance of assessing the financial burdens of low-income countries to finance their transition to clean energy. The UAE team also presented a case study on the country’s pioneering efforts and the progress made by financial regulators to build an integrated regulatory and legislative environment for sustainable finance in the country, in line with the UAE Net Zero 2050. Finally, the UAE reviewed the priorities for preparing to host the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) next year.
During the meeting, the SFWG members discussed the progress made on the G20 Sustainable Finance roadmap, options to scaling-up sustainable finance instruments, and recommendations for improving financial institution commitments towards the transition. The SFWG completed the review of the documents and agreed to submit the reports for endorsement of the ministers during the next G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting, which will be held on 12 and 13 October 2022 in Washington.
