Abu Dhabi/Paris : Five months ahead of COP28 UAE in Dubai, Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic , John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank met with 100 CEOs and leaders of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) Network. The central purpose of this meeting was to advance the financial community’s contribution to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, as the impacts of climate change are increasingly visible, especially in emerging and developing economies.

The 6th Annual CEO OPSWF Network Summit has been convened by President Macron to coincide with the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on 22-23rd June. The Summit is gathering Heads of State and leaders of financial institutions who are motivated by a joint desire to shape a new global financial architecture able to fully deliver for people and planet.

Championed by President Emmanuel Macron, the OPSWF network was launched at the One Planet Summit in December 2017 in Paris to accelerate the integration of climate change analysis into the management of large, long-term, and diversified asset pools. The 47 members of the OPSWF network, representing more than US$37 trillion in assets under management and ownership, recognize the goals of Sovereign Wealth Funds of long-term growth, the protection of intergenerational wealth and providing for a sustainable future coincide with the Paris Agreement’s goals, namely the protection of the planet while advancing the social and economic prospects of the generations to come. The Network includes sovereign wealth funds and the asset managers and private equity funds with whom they partner.

Speaking at the 6th OPSWF Summit President Emmanuel Macron said, “In order to fix together poverty, climate change, biodiversity, it is absolutely impossible to act only with public money and official development assistance. We must create a collective dynamic, involving much more the private sector, sovereign wealth funds, assets managers, and all the private financing we can channel towards these objectives. This is why the OPSWF and all we have been building together in the framework of the One Planet Summit is so important.”

Also at the summit U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry added, “The leaders assembled by OPSWF represent pools of capital that can truly make or break the global energy transition. As stewards of inter-generational wealth, OPSWF members recognize the imperative of addressing the climate crisis; now is the time to turn words into action at scale and seize the opportunities that exist to create a cleaner, healthier, and wealthier future.”

During the Summit, significant progress was made on advancing three key critical priorities.

  • Harmonising Climate Data for Private Markets

OPSWF Network members reiterated the importance of greater transparency and disclosure of climate data to enable investors to better integrate climate change considerations into investment decision making, in a manner appropriate to their business models. Access to investment grade data on the carbon intensity of company operations remains a central barrier to calibrating such risks. Climate data is fragmented into a number of disparate standards, methodologies and tools resulting in data dilution and increased reporting requirements. Last year, OPSWF members launched the ‘One Planet Climate Disclosure Guidance (CDG) for Private Markets’. During the Summit, the sovereign wealth funds of the Network underscored their request that private fund managers in which they invest report their estimated Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions, and estimated Scope 3 emissions for carbon intensive businesses for year-end 2023. Moreover, they called on all private markets to begin the climate disclosure journey to reduce systemic risks to the financial system and the planet.

OPSWF Network members underscore the importance of streamlining the aggregation and reporting of such climate data. The OPSWF Network therefore welcomed the establishment of the Climate Data

Steering Committee under the leadership of French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael R. Bloomberg. OPSWF Network members recognize the efforts made globally to close the data gap and particularly the creation of the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU).

NZDPU will offer a centralized data repository for key climate transition related data, initially for public companies. This initiative is key to driving progress on interoperability by achieving comparability, consistency and coherence among the diverse reporting frameworks. The OPSWF Network agreed that their working group on data would engage with NZDPU to enable the delivery of the One Planet CDG in the market by gathering Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data.

Speaking at the 6th OPSWF Summit, Dr. Mary L. Schapiro, Head of TCFD Secretariat, said, “Access to consistent, high-quality climate transition-related data remains one of the biggest barriers to climate action. We welcome this engagement from OPSWF as well as its recognition of the important role that the Net-Zero Data Public Utility can play in bringing greater transparency and data integrity to financial markets.”

Mike Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, added, “The Net-Zero Data Public Utility that Bloomberg Philanthropies is working on together with President Macron will help them do that, and it’s great to see the effort welcomed today by many of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, asset managers and private equity funds. It will help to drive our work forward, and I thank President Macron for his leadership in helping to make it happen.”

  • Accelerating Investments - Clean Hydrogen

OPSWF Network members believe that scaling investment in clean hydrogen is one of the critical areas needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Investment in clean hydrogen can be significantly accelerated provided that appropriate enablers are in place. The OPSWF Network agreed that their working group on clean hydrogen would establish a forum with the Hydrogen Council [website], which brings together 150 leading companies in the hydrogen industry, to support the advancement and implementation of a global standard for the certification of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions

of clean hydrogen along the value chain. Members agreed that such a certification standard could accelerate the development of the global clean hydrogen market and reduce emissions globally. Moreover, the certification standard can facilitate the financing of clean hydrogen projects, including in Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs), by reducing the costs and streamlining the process for developing countries.

  • Accelerating Investments for Renewables in Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs) Reducing carbon emissions in emerging and developing economies, while meeting rising demand for affordable, clean energy requires the significant scaling-up of private sector engagement and capital flows. OPSWF members reinforced their belief that investing in renewable energy in EMDEs constitute a massive investment opportunity from the triple perspective of impact, risk, and return.

Over the last decade, sovereign wealth funds have already collectively become a source of significant capital for renewable energy infrastructure in emerging markets. In preparation for today’s Summit, OPSWF Network members drew from years of their own project financing experience, while canvassing policy makers and leading project developers to identify concrete actions that can enable local renewable energy solutions and sustainable marketplaces. Members agreed that building interlocking national and regional clean energy ecosystems, with robust access to the international financial system, is central to operationalise this approach.

The OPSWF Network agreed that their working group on renewables in EMDEs would organise a West- Central African Renewables Investment Acceleration Program to help catalyze such an ecosystem, engaging in dialogue with multilateral development banks. OPSWF working group members further agreed to support the convening of leading renewable energy ecosystem players in West Africa.

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For more information contact : secretariat@opswf.net

OPSWF Network : Initially launched as a working group of five founding sovereign wealth funds with a three- year mandate, the Network has since grown to 47 members, comprising 18 sovereign wealth funds, 18 asset managers, and 11 private investment firms, with over USD 37 trillion in assets under management and ownership who commit to collaborate actively to implement the principles of the OPSWF Framework first published at the Élysée Palace in 2018. Since its inception, the OPSWF Network has held its annual CEO Summit.