In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re on the ground at the UN’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai covering the role the financial sector plays in addressing climate change.

Finance is a cross-cutting theme on the COP28 agenda, and the week kicked off with a day dedicated to the topic. In today’s episode, we sit down on the sidelines of the conference with Dame Susan Rice to talk about what needs to happen to close the climate finance gap.

Dame Susan chairs the Global Steering Group of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), a nonprofit focused on working with the financial sector to deliver finance for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dame Susan is former Chief Executive and Chair of Lloyds TSB Scotland and former Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group, as well as a former Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England.

In the interview, Dame Susan talks about her hopes for COP28 outcomes and what needs to happen to get finance flowing to climate solutions.

"I hear all the time there’s a lot of money out there, but it can't actually get to the other side," she tells us.

She says creative, hybrid solutions have a role to play.

"A lot of this change is at the frontier — it’s companies, organizations, governments doing changes which haven’t been done before," Dame Susan says. "So if you’re an investor, if you're a banker, you don't understand the risk, you can't monetize the risk, and you become cautious and don’t put the money in. So what I would love to see is really creative but sound, prudent finance."

Listen to more episodes covering COP28:

Optimism, hope for progress palpable at COP28: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/tetris-pioneer-turned-environmentalist-talks-climate-optimism-at-cop28

At COP28, solving for water challenges through public-private collaboration: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/at-cop28-solving-for-water-challenges-through-public-private-collaboration

As COP28 kicks off, talking climate finance with the Green Climate Fund: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/as-cop28-kicks-off-talking-climate-finance-with-the-green-climate-fund

For more information on COP28 developments, see news from S&P Global Commodity Insights here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/topics/cop28-un-climate-change-conference

Read the COP28 Special Edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly for research and insights on key themes that in focus in Dubai here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/sustainability-journal/cop28-sustainability-quarterly-page

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.

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COP28 highlights need for innovative climate finance solutions