Sustainable financing offers guidelines for achieving SDGs

Finland’s sustainable financing roadmap published on Friday provided guidelines for the allocation of funding solutions to sustainable investments that need to be increased during this decade, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release.

Achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during this decade will require significant changes to the way the public and private sectors allocate their investments.

Several national and international initiatives aim to support the transformation of the financial sector and to promote the comprehensive allocation of funding in accordance with the SDGs.

Finland has played an active role in sustainable finance initiatives internationally, and the Finnish Roadmap for Financing a Decade of SDG Action will provide guidelines for the Finnish operators to implement the necessary changes. The roadmap is part of the project on Developing Finland’s Sustainable Finance Ecosystems.

“Finland has performed very well in international comparisons of sustainable development. Promoting a sustainable financing system offers us an economically cost-effective way of responding to the challenges of sustainable development in Finland. At the same time, it helps us attract more investments and improves our competitiveness in the international market,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

Success in the necessary transformations requires determined development of sustainable financing skills and coordinated public sector measures to mobilise private funding more comprehensively than now, specifically in line with the UN’s objectives.

Implementing the transformation also requires the ability to identify and report on the impact of investments on economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The roadmap provided an opportunity for different operators to recognise their own role in promoting sustainable financing.

Four ecosystem projects that help identify concrete sustainable financing solutions are currently underway to speed up the implementation of the roadmap. These include scaling up offshore wind power and sustainable protein production in Finland and promoting climate-smart water solutions and exports of vocational education.