GUERNSEY GOES GREEN ON A GLOBAL STAGE
GUERNSEY GOES GREEN ON A GLOBAL STAGE
Guernsey does not often get the chance to operate on a truly global stage. Although over the course of history, our people have made a huge impact in establishing international trade links, in the arts, and in sport, it is rare that Guernsey, as a small jurisdiction, has a chance to position itself globally. Green finance is such a chance, a huge global movement. The scale of investment required to fight climate change is in the trillions, and global policymakers are being pushed to use finance as the weapon. Investment in this space is needed because people are realising that, as Ban Ki-moon, the former United Nations’ Secretary-General, said: ‘There is no plan B, because there is no planet B’. Given our specialism in finance, Guernsey has an ability to play an outsize role in this global cause where financial services drives more than 40% of our GDP and more than 70% of our export economy – and indeed our place in the world. Green finance is a global cause, and a fast-moving cause. Guernsey’s green finance strategy, developed with the full support and participation of the States of Guernsey, is today the keystone of our island’s financial services strategy, the golden thread which runs through our business. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has also consistently reported that there is ‘no time to lose’. The climate crisis has arrived, and is accelerating faster than most expected, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity. We face the risk of potentially irreversible climate tipping points, and chain reactions disrupting ecosystems, society and economies. Transformative change on the scale required will cost a lot of money – out of the scope of small governments such as Guernsey, and also too challenging for the major global economies.
Deputy Lyndon Trott
Governments alone will not be able to finance this transition. So the green finance sector – and investment from institutions and individuals – will play a key part. Guernsey’s government has played its part so far, meeting emissions targets, embedding environmental sustainability into our formal investment frameworks, including our investment principles for the States of Guernsey and our regulatory framework, and providing funding to develop the green finance initiative. But while we do what we can at a local level to fund the necessary transition, we are a community of 65,000 people and this is a global problem that requires a global joined-up solution. Technology projects and infrastructure that our local finance sector funds in other parts of the world are much more likely to be on a scale that will have a bigger global impact compared to what the sector invests in locally. Last summer, Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for our island’s financial services industry, organised a week-long event, Sustainable Finance Week, which should have actually taken place in Guernsey. COVID-19 put paid to that, but we continued with the event, over the course of three webinars and three podcasts, with international guests and reach to a global audience. We also enjoyed the oversight and feedback of Tim Hames, former Director-General of British private equity industry group, the British Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (BVCA). Tim has been a regular visitor to Guernsey over the years, and is well aware of Guernsey’s long-held strength and expertise in private equity investment funds. He summarised the event thus: “Guernsey has shown considerable imagination with regards to green and sustainable finance and it should view this as platform for bigger and better products. It should think of COP26 as an occasion of a type akin to the Olympic Games or the football World Cup. It should really want to be noticed by others.”
is a member of Guernsey’s Assembly, the States of Guernsey. He has served as an elected member since 2000, and has spent full terms as the island’s Finance Minister, Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister over that time. He has been the Chairman of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Guernsey financial services industry, for the past five years and is an independent Trustee on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Trust Funds.
36 | The Parliamentarian | 2021: Issue One | 100 years of publishing
