APPG on Sustainable Finance AGM 10/06/21

The AGM for the APPG on Sustainable Finance was held on the 10 July 2021. In attendance was Ed Davey MP (APPG Chair), Gareth Davies MP, Ben Lake MP, Lord Oates, Sophie Lethier (Parliamentary Officer at UK100 which provides the Secretariat for the APPG), Zoe Roberts (UK100) and Ruth Kilsney (APPG Partner Seahorse Environmental). 

Ed Davey was elected as the Chair of the APPG and Gareth Davies, Alex Sobel, Ed Miliband, Ben Lake, Beth Winter, Lord Oates, Sarah Olney and Harriet Baldwin were elected as vice-chairs of the APPG on Sustainable Finance. Alex Sobel, Ed Miliband, Beth Winter, Sarah Olney and Harriet Baldwin were unable to make the meeting, and so were elected in absentia. 

UK100, the APPG Secretariat, would like to welcome all new officers of the APPG and to encourage all members and officers to raise questions about sustainable finance in Parliament, to get involved with APPG events and to offer their thoughts on what the APPG should work on over the coming months. 

A discussion followed about the events and activities that the APPG has planned. Parliamentary briefings are being held for MPs with E3G and the Green Finance Institute to explore the issue of greenwashing and the role that parliamentarians can play to tackle it. If you would like to join us for one of these sessions, please RSVP to APPG Secretariat assistant zoe.roberts@uk100.org. Separate briefings will be held with each political party:

• Briefing for Liberal Democrat parliamentarians, 4.15pm-5pm, 12 July 
• Briefing for Conservative parliamentarians, 10am-10.45am, 14 July
• Briefing for Labour and Labour/Co-op parliamentarians, 11am-11.45am, 14 July 
•  Briefing for SNP, Plaid Cymru, DUP, Green, Alba Party, Independent and Cross-Bench parliamentarians, 11am-11.45am, 15 July

Additionally, the APPG is organising a panel discussion on the 20th of July from 3-4.15pm on ‘What does successful Net Zero levelling up look like? Getting finance into cities and regions’. This event will examine what the ‘real economy’ outcomes of green finance can be and explore how to mobilise finance into place-based investments which deliver good green jobs and low-carbon infrastructure for communities across the UK. 

Next Ed Davey MP spoke about the need for APPG members to be fully informed about the Government’s plans for green finance ahead of COP26 and suggested that we organise a meeting with a relevant minister so that everyone is fully informed about the Government’s plans on this, so that the APPG can contribute effectively to parliamentary debate on this issue ahead of COP26.

Lord Oates raised a suggestion that the APPG should invite Finance Watch and Carbon Tracker to an event to inform us about the capital solvency requirement and how it can encourage fossil fuel investment. It is possible to change the climate risk of the capital solvency requirement so that insurers need to take climate risks into account – ClientEarth discuss this in a Treasury call for evidence on capital solvency.

The APPG will be examining these ideas and planning further work and events, all of which alongside relevant news will be shared on our Twitter page and circulated in our weekly newsletter which lands in inboxes every Thursday at 5pm – sign up here.