Sustainable Finance Development Network (SFDN)

In 2020, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) proposed to APEC’s Finance Ministers the establishment of a permanent landing platform for private-public sector collaboration to support the development of sustainable Finance in APEC Economies, while strengthening the region’s voice in the development of common global sustainability frameworks. That year, at their annual dialogue, APEC’s Finance Ministers welcomed ABAC’s proposal to establish the Sustainable Finance Development Network (SFDN). The SFDN is a network within the Asia-Pacific Financial Forum (APFF), a policy initiative of the APEC Finance Ministers, who entrusted its oversight to the APEC Business Advisory Council. The UNDP Financial Centers for Sustainability (FC4S) Network, a collective of international financial centers that work to expand sustainable finance and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, acts as the Secretariat of SFDN. SFDN´s focus is to address the fragmented Sustainable Finance landscape and the lack of applicable and practical common standards that can guide lenders and investors in incentivizing companies and organizations, especially in Developing Economies and SMEs, to progressively transition to net zero and align their practices with sustainable development goals. The network acts as a Forum of Experts and it has been developed to support and align existing initiatives and stakeholders by means of the development of a consensus on a common work framework that looks at Sustainable Finance from a holistic and pragmatic perspective and categorizes the required action items into a series of building blocks and focus areas. The network is also meant to develop and encourage strong and efficient capacity-building governance structures and to promote alignment and coordination of efforts for effective skills and knowledge development.