Today, the Green Finance Institute’s Nature Programme (GFI Hive) has launched the UK Financial Institutions for Nature Group (G-FIN). With representation from across the financial sector, the Group will support the delivery of investment into UK nature recovery.
The next few years are crucial to achieve the UK Government’s broader vision to support an economic transition to one that values and invests in nature, in line with the findings of the Dasgupta Review; as well as the ambition to mobilise private sector investment into nature restoration and nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation as laid out in the 2023 Green Finance Strategy.
The outcomes-focused Group – which is open to any financial institution engaged in UK nature finance – will identify barriers to UK Government ambitions on increasing private sector finance and also provide feedback and input where relevant on key government initiatives including:
- the development of a national database to track progress towards HMT’s target of £1 billion p.a. of private sector nature investment by 2030;
- the development of high-integrity domestic nature markets;
- the Land, Nature, and Adapted Systems Advisory Group’s recommendations in the development of the UK’s green taxonomy;
- UK uptake of the TNFD framework.
Initial members of the GFI Hive UK Financial Institutions for Nature Group include:
- Abrdn
- Aviva
- Barclays
- British Business Bank
- Climate Asset Management (CAM)
- Finance Earth
- Green Angel Ventures
- Federated Hermes
- Impax Asset Management
- Lloyds Banking Group
- NatWest Group
- Oakham Wealth Management
- Oxbury Bank
- Posaidon Capital
- Rathbone Greenbank Investments
- Schroders
- Scottish National Investment Bank
- Triodos Bank
- UBS Optimus Foundation
- UK Infrastructure Bank
The establishment of this group follows on the success of the Green Finance Institute’s Coalition for the Energy Efficiency of Buildings and the Coalition for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport – which were established to identify and unlock barriers to sectoral decarbonization.
Dr. Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, CEO of the Green Finance Institute, said:
“Private sector investment is urgently needed if we hope to reach the UK’s nature goals this decade. The market infrastructure is being put in place to enable the flow of private sector capital into nature recovery and nature-based solutions, but there is still much to be done. The support of the UK financial sector will be critical, in addition to the support of the broader UK private sector, and the GFI is delighted by the enthusiasm and leadership of those joining this new Group.”
You can read more about G-FIN here. If you are interested in becoming a member of G-FIN, please email hive@gfi.green