ADGM: A Rising Centre of Climate Finance

[Music] your highness your excellencies distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen good morning it's my great pleasure to welcome you to race day at Abu Dhabi Finance week there's been a palpable energy in Abu daab during our biggest Finance week so far importantly cop 28 commencing today means that race day is more important than ever we're also very proud to be a principal climate Finance partner with cop 28 it's another indicator of the UA's strong support for the sustainability agenda as evidenced by amongst other things being the being the first country in the region to announce a net zero emissions Target establishing the largest single sight solar power project in the world and many more initiatives perhaps even more importantly this is a country with Incredible energy and ambition which is embracing decarbonization as a way to diversify and develop the Falcon economy as I'm sure you know the challenges facing cop 28 are daunting as articulated by his Excellency Sultan Al Jaber we don't need to wait for the global stock tape to plan our response to the global stock take we must lay the groundwork now one of the areas we're behind in is finance mckinzy estimates that the climate Finance Gap is around4 trillion us per anom it's a daunting figure the lack of available accessible affordable climate Finance is leading the world to for weth behind in the race to Net Zero as a Swift and permanent gear change is required what's ad G's role well the Gap is too great to be met by the public sector alone the private sector must play a significant role this is where ad0 GM is pivotal ad0 GM is here to create an attractive environment to do business enabled by worldclass regulatory Frameworks and enforcement of it we're here to host companies and financial products and services that will Channel Capital towards economic activities that will make Net Zero a reality this is where we've developed our sustainable Finance regulatory framework our regulations cover rules for sustainability orientated products and services such as funds and bonds regulation of carbon markets and ESG disclosures each of these components is significant in combination however we have the basis for the gearshift required to drive forward our development as a green Finance Center I would like to take a moment to address some components of our comp comprehensive framework firstly green funds reducing the financing Gap requires investors to trust in the environmental credentials of investment products in other other words to prevent greenwashing Finance is after all about trust that is why our regulatory framework for green Investments imposes robust standards on funds which intend to invest in environmentally sustainable assets such as the requirement for alignment with recognizable green taxonomies I'm delighted by the news that Mazda green re has become the first Fone to to obtain a designation as a adgm green fund it's a prime example of the type of investment strategy required to ensure green assets obtain requisite financing we look forward to many more green funds establishing here next I'd like to talk about climate transition funds of course Capital needs to be directed to projects like sustainable real estate and Renewable Power however 95% of investable assets are not Green net zero will not be reached by only investing Capital into assets that are already environmentally sustainable it requires channeling capital and assets that are not green in order that they become so that's why we have a framework for climate transition funds these are funds that invest in what we call Greening assets companies and other assets where safeguards to ensure the capital is genuinely going to help their Pathway to Net Zero we believe our framework which is the first of its kind is pivotal in unlocking investments in the transition I'd like to now move on to regulating carbon markets Net Zero must be achieved primarily by emissions reductions however creating a credible liquid and trusted market for emissions and their pricing is nevertheless an important part of the equation our regulations on environmental instruments as financial instruments achieves that end and has enabled us to host air carbon exchange the first regulated voluntary carbon market and clearing house it also means adjem is ready to act as required to support the UA's further initiatives in developing for instance emissions markets ad GM's status as a sustainable Finance Center will rest not only on finance flowing through this jurisdiction but the Company's base here must be more sustainable themselves that is why we issued rules for ESG disclosures by all 0gm companies above a size threshold our ESG disclosure framework is the most comprehensive in the region in terms of scope of companies covered from public to Private Financial Services and Commercial companies our approach marks us out both regionally and globally in the word race we have the letter c race stands for collaboration recognizing this the fsra coordinates the sustainable Finance working group a group of UA Financial Services Regulators Ministries stock exchanges and other bodies this year the group has progressed its agenda to ensure the UA as a whole develops its ESG disclosure requirements governance requirements and importantly the de development of a UAE green taxonomy we have also increased the number of signatories of the Abu Dhabi sustainable Finance declaration to a total of 116 organizations ations who are committed to the development of sustainable Finance in Abu the UAE and The Wider region in concluding in the race to Net Zero Global efforts have often seemed to be stuck in first gear now the momentum is here in the capital of capital within this country of determined energy with both the desire and the substance to realize ambitious goals 80 g m stands Prime to become the location of choice for the investment vehicles products and services that will make Net Zero a reality thank you for your time I very much look forward to hearing from our distinguished speakers today to the conversations with you our guests and to a successful cop 28 thank you very much