On 16 April, AFI and the V20 Climate Vulnerable Forum co-organized a Leaders Roundtable in Washington D.C., to discuss opportunities to build collaboration and momentum on Inclusive Green Finance (IGF).

The meeting, hosted by Mastercard, explored how countries can be assisted in implementing IGF policies, and how IGF can be made financially viable without overburdening regulators or financial institutions. Attendees included Central Bank Governors from Barbados, Eswatini, Angola, Namibia and Lesotho, and senior leaders from Kenya, Paraguay, Armenia, Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, Madagascar, Rwanda and the Solomon Islands,

“While Inclusive Green Finance is now well established as a policy priority, its progress is being constrained by financing gaps, capacity limitations, and data challenges,” said AFI Chief Executive Officer, Dr Alfred Hannig. “It was clear from our discussions that there is a clear need for simple, practical, and proportionate approaches that reflect national realities, particularly in climate-vulnerable economies.”

Next steps: an IGF Global Compact

Insights from the meeting will be incorporated into the design of an Inclusive Green Finance Global Compact. The Compact, which aims to galvanize action and accountability by providing a structured framework for advancing implementation and tracking progress, will be launched at an upcoming Global IGF Conference in Morocco in June, co-hosted by AFI and Bank Al-Maghrib.