Sustainable Finance in the Channel Islands

In spring 2024, the Government of Jersey published a consultation on designing a policy and regulatory framework for sustainable finance for the island. The consultation document took the form of a green paper and was open for views until 26th April 2024. You can find all the details here.

The success of the consultation depended on the breadth and depth of industry engagement. We found that many in the local industry outside the existing sustainable finance sector were unclear about what sustainable finance is, why it’s important for the islands, and what the opportunity is. We therefore wanted to help explain some of the concepts and our view on the way forward. We produced a series of short bite-size videos throughout the consultation period which have been very well received.

If you are new to sustainable finance in the Channel Islands, we hope you continue to find these helpful.

For context, both Jersey and Guernsey have long been recognised as two of the world’s most stable and successful IFCs. The islands play a specific role as a hub of expertise and conduit of capital, and have an important responsibility to contribute to the urgent global sustainable development action we all know we need at pace and scale.

Despite political and economic headwinds in parts of the world, our view is that sustainable finance presents a significant opportunity for the islands, and indeed a threat should we not keep pace with global expectations. We support a two-pronged strategy, both promoting strengths and incentivising action, whilst also protecting the jurisdictions from risk and ensuring proportionate regulatory equivalence and market access where appropriate.