Bern – The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs supports the Nature Finance project in its priority countries Peru, Colombia, South Africa and Indonesia. 5 million Swiss francs will help ensure that financial institutions there take environmental risks into account when making lending decisions.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs(SECO) is making CHF 5 million available to the Nature Finance project over the next four years. This project aims to ensure that financial institutions include environmental risks and opportunities more strongly in their credit analyses. This is how more money is to flow into sustainable sectors and companies. It is implemented in SECO’s priority countries Peru, Colombia, South Africa and Indonesia.
Nature Finance continues to develop tools and methods that can be used to assess ecological risks. It also trains financial institutions to apply them. According to a SECO media release, this project is related to the World Conference on Biodiversity that ended on December 19 in Montreal.
SECO points out that the loss of “natural capital” such as minerals, soils and biodiversity could have “momentous consequences” for the global economy. Therefore, he said, swift and comprehensive action is essential to halt its decline and create new incentives for biodiversity conservation. The financial sector has a key role to play here. mm
