Financing the SDGs

Key facts and figures

How is the challenge addressed by the financial industry?

• The Principles for Responsible Investment, an initiative developed by an international group of institutional investors and convened by the United Nations Secretary-General, aims to contribute to developing a more sustainable global financial system. Since its launch in 2006, the number of signatories has grown from 100 to over 3,000 in 2020, with a total of USD 110 trillion in asset under management.
  
  
• Bloomberg calculated that ESG assets jumped to $30.6 trillion in 2018 from $22.8 trillion in 2016.They estimate that global ESG assets could exceed $53 trillion by 2025, climbing to more than a third of the global total assets under management.

Source: GSIA, Bloomberg Intelligence

Or

• A Moody's Investors Service report says that the global issuance of green, social and sustainability bonds – or sustainable bonds, collectively – totaled a record of $231 billion in the first quarter of 2021, a 19% increase over the previous quarter and more than three times higher than the same quarter last year. Sustainable bonds represented 9.4% of global debt issuance in the first quarter of 2021.

• According to a Morningstar report, European sustainable funds attracted inflows of EUR 120 billion in the first quarter of 2021. This is 18% higher than in the previous quarter, and it represents 51% of overall European fund flows. 

How does BNP Paribas address the issue?

• In September 2019, during the Climate Week initiative in New York, BNP Paribas reinforced its commitment to take additional action to contribute to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by signing the Principles for Responsible Banking and joining UNEP FI’s Collective Commitment to Climate Action.
  
  
• In line with these commitments, at BNP Paribas Wealth Management we have launched two initiatives, as part of our efforts to streamline our sustainable finance offering for our clients:
  
  - The unique proprietary “Clover Methodology”: This single rating scale enables clients to have a more direct and simpler understanding of the products and to calibrate their investment decisions in line with their values and the impact they are seeking to achieve;  
  Discover the Clover Methodology
  - myImpact: a dedicated tool designed for clients to help them better understand the notions of sustainable development, responsible investment and philanthropy, and guide them to make a positive impact through their wealth, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
  Discover myImpact

Discover our other episodes throughout the summer. Around the theme of sustainability, they address the role of the financial sector in different Sustainable Development Goals, and allow you to identify how you, as an investor, can act for a better and more sustainable future.