The Banking Sector's Contribution to Sustainable Growth – Risk Assessment, Sustainable Finance, Voluntary Initiatives and Regulations

Abstract

A report by the Stockholm Environment Institute estimates that between US$363 billion to US$2.4 trillion have to be invested only to mitigate climate change (Tempest & Lazarus, 2014). This estimation demonstrates that the financial sector plays a central role in influencing sustainable development, our society, and the environment because of its capital provision function. As an intermediary the sector is able to channel financial capital into businesses and projects with different – positive and negative – impacts on sustainable development. Therefore, the connection between the financial industry and sustainable development is mainly indirect. Impacts are rather resulting from financed businesses and projects than from the financial sector itself.

Keywords: Sustainable development, financial sector, banking, G20, regulations, voluntary codes of conduct, risk, envrionmental finance, climate finance

JEL Classification: G1, G2, E02