The final report of the EU High-level Expert Group (HLEG) on Scaling Up Sustainable Finance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, commissioned by the European Commission, has been published. The main task of the Group was to identify the challenges and opportunities for sustainable finance in low- and middle-income countries and to recommend to the European Commission how to increase funding from private capital to fill the current SDG financing gap and how to accelerate private finance flows towards the implementation of the Global Gateway, the external dimension of the Green Deal to support a green, fair and resilient recovery in EU partner countries.
As the report states, “Sustainability challenges are global and require global solutions that leave no one behind”. There is also a global financing gap to achieve the SDGs, which the OECD estimated last year at USD 3.9 trillion per year. Increasingly tight public funds and concessional financing are clearly insufficient to bridge this gap. In my view, we need to rethink how sustainable finance works, attract private capital at scale, and provide financial and technical support to all emerging markets and developing countries to ensure a just and inclusive transition. The EU can play a key role in facilitating the enabling conditions to make this happen.
“Sustainability challenges are global and require global solutions that leave no one behind.”
Over the course of 18 months, HLEG has assembled a diverse group of 20 international experts representing a wide range of both financial and non-financial expertise, including EU cross-border investors, local investors, local businesses, civil society, standard-setting bodies and academia. BBVA is honoured to become a member and has an important role to play in sharing its experience and perspective as a private lender with a track record in emerging markets and partnerships with multilateral development banks.
