The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment has welcomed the UK Government’s updated Green Finance Strategy with an increased focus on education and skills.
The Strategy, published on 30 March, is the latest policy blueprint developed by HM Treasury, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, focused on the positive role of UK financial and related professional services in achieving the transition to Net Zero by 2050.
It sets out how the UK Government will pursue its ambition to become the world’s first Net Zero-aligned financial centre. It says private investment will be crucial to delivering net zero, with an additional £50-60 billion capital investment required each year through the late 2020s and 2030s.
However, as the Sustainable Finance Education Charter reports in its ESG Skills Survey, UK employers, educators and the government need to work together to secure the UK’s future as a global sustainable finance centre.
Tracy Vegro, CEO of CISI, said: “We warmly welcome the new UK Government Green Finance Strategy and in particular its heightened focus on education and skills. We must develop clean, resilient and prosperous economies that work for everyone. While Britain has led the world as a hub for innovation and growth in green and sustainable finance, our work with CISI’s global partners through our international offices has shown us that other countries are placing a higher priority on upskilling their financial services sectors. Britain must not lose its edge.”
Vegro said UK financial services firms can do more to invest in the capacity and capabilities required to support their sustainability commitments and the UK’s net zero goals.
She added: “We look forward to working with governments in the UK and globally and with finance sector firms, regulators, professional bodies and others to raise our ambitions and build sustainable finance capacity and capabilities for all.”
