As the Sustainable Finance Live 2023 event approaches on October 10 at Events@No6 in London, we had the opportunity to connect with several speakers to preview their insights for attendees. One of them is Chirine Ben Zaied, the head of innovation at Finastra, who will be mentoring participants in the hackathon scheduled alongside the conference.
Ben Zaied highlighted the finance sector’s substantial efforts in addressing climate change, noting a marked increase in green and sustainable bonds and ESG products, particularly in Europe. She emphasized that the growing interest in sustainable practices necessitates greater transparency within the industry.
To mitigate global emissions, Ben Zaied outlined several strategies that companies can adopt:
- Client Support: Assisting clients in measuring their carbon footprints, evaluating climate risks, and outlining their transformation journeys. Many banks and insurers are already providing such support.
- Financial Backing: Offering financial resources to facilitate this transformation through various sustainable development goals (SDG)-aligned products.
- Progress Monitoring: Continuously measuring advancements and making necessary adjustments, leveraging a feedback loop enriched with data analytics and reports.
Through collaboration, both financial institutions and corporate clients can define challenges and aid each other’s transformations, leading to beneficial outcomes.
Ben Zaied also expressed her belief that artificial intelligence and data analytics present significant opportunities within the financial sector, though challenges do remain. “Data is a primary obstacle due to issues relating to its scarcity and quality, and the need for appropriate analytical frameworks,” she explained.
Using green bonds as an example, she pointed out that issuers commit to annual reports detailing fund allocations to specific projects. This allows for impact measurement at the project level, such as calculating megawatt-hours (MWh) generated from renewable energy initiatives. However, complexities arise when measuring impact requires thorough carbon emission analyses and consideration of interdependencies between social and environmental factors, including biodiversity. Here, technology plays a vital role—facilitating data collection, engineering, analytics, and reporting.
Looking ahead, Ben Zaied anticipates that companies, particularly CFOs, will increasingly prioritize sustainable initiatives and ESG considerations, and that climate risk assessment practices will emerge more prominently within financial institutions.
As for her expectations at the Sustainable Finance Live 2023 event, she shared her enthusiasm for the unique event structure, which encourages interactive learning. "I am particularly excited about the hackathon and eager to see the innovative ideas and projects that the teams will develop," she stated.
To explore more about this pivotal event and register, please visit the Sustainable Finance Live website, where industry experts will convene to discuss strategies for fostering sustainable urban development on October 10, 2023.