PWC-Bankers Association to webinar on green finance tomorrow

From left: CBSL Deputy Governor Yvette Fernando, Bank of Ceylon Manager - Sustainability Unit Ama Wickramaarachchi, and PwC Sri Lanka Director - Capital Project and Infrastructure Ruvini Fernando 

Providing an insight and understanding of the rapidly evolving landscape of green finance PWC Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Bankers Association will be organising a webinar on 9 December to explore ways on how public and private finance can be used to ensure a sustainable and resilient future for all. 

The webinar will cover topics around sustainable and responsible finance, why they matter and the need for financial institutions to contribute to sustainable development and social impact, in their lending or investing activities, by the way they function and treat their employees, their clients and their communities, including their suppliers. It will explain the steps taken to implement social and environmental management frameworks, how to integrate the framework, and why it is important to make it an institution-wide effort, including staff training and client education.

The session will also focus on the role the private sector should play in cooperating with government to identify green bonds to raise cash for new or existing projects such as energy, water management, building construction, water, land use and transport and can be aimed at energy efficiency, pollution prevention, sustainable agriculture, fishery and forestry, the protection of aquatic ecosystems, clean transportation and sustainable water management. 

The panel of experienced subject matter experts addressing the webinar includes Sandeep Bhattacharya, who counts over 15 years of experience related to Bond Markets in India and SE Asia, and has held management roles varying from credit evaluation, business development and execution and structuring of transactions. 

He has spoken in a number of conferences and workshops, including those organised by the UNDP for regulators of a developing country and municipalities in India. He will educate the audiences on the Sustainable Bond and finance markets, the role of Climate Bonds Initiative, what are the factors which help the sustainable finance market grow, how multilaterals like ADB and IFC and government actions help and the green certification process.

PwC – India Director Sandeep Mohanty, holding over 12 years of professional experience with PwC with expertise in value creation through sustainability that include advising companies on integrating ESG into corporate strategy to drive business outcomes, low carbon economy and clean energy solutions, will set the conversations around an Issuer’s perspective; from “what’s the process to undergo, the process itself and compliance procedure.

Central Bank Deputy Governor Yvette Fernando will give the audience an insight into the role and undertaking of various green banking initiatives, whilst Ama Wickremarachchi of Bank of Ceylon will delve further into this topic. 

PwC Sri Lanka Director Deals Strategy Ruvini Fernando stated, “Green finance will impact every business as lines of credit become attached to carbon emission targets and ESG becomes more important than ever. A well-functioning financial system with a clear focus on sustainability is capable of channelling much needed funding towards green projects and technologies. Yet the lack of clarity about which activities can be defined as green remains an impediment to green finance development. Through webinars such as this, we hope to facilitate in bringing together regulators, policymakers, trade associations and development institutions, to discuss the way forward to ensure that we not only turn sustainable finance policies into action, but also strengthen measurement to capture market impact.”