Highlights from the 2022 IFC Sustainability Exchange and Replay

One thing you can count on with the annual?IFC Sustainability Exchange?is the unexpected mash-up of music, art, culture, and thoughtful probing around complex global challenges. This year’s hybrid event was no exception. With a focus on?Sustainable Finance?and how it’s driving private-sector commitments that deliver positive climate and social impacts, the event featured an eclectic group of?speakers?and lively conversation. Check out some highlights below and links to the replay.?

Call to action on the climate crisis

Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, Vice President, IFC, kicked off the Exchange with an inspiring introduction of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. In her remarks, the PM delivered a?powerful call to action: “My message to the private sector and financial institutions: Please stand with us, the lives and livelihoods of those of us?on the front lines of the climate crisis depend on you and the projects you finance.”?She noted that her Caribbean Island nation is building a more resilient infrastructure.?

Technology, creatives, and sustainable finance for good

IFC Managing Director?Makhtar Diop’s insightful conversations with Idris and Sabrina Elba?shed light on how agriculture—especially smallholder farming—is affected by climate change, how technology and innovation are advancing climate and social good, and how creatives can influence change. ?“Art is an incredible gift that we have,” Idris Elba said. “The idea that we can imagine something that is not there and make it into reality is almost like magic. It is magic in fact. It is an instrument of change.”?

IFC?infrastructure?clients like Axian, Anglo American, IZSU, Sembcorp, and Panama Canal spoke about their journey through Sustainable Finance to drive clean and just transitions.?

“We must be sure that every corner of Africa has the proper coverage. We have to give the best quality of data to everyone,” noted Hassanein Hiridjee, CEO, Axian Group.??

Of her company’s sustainability-linked bond issuance,?Gwendolyn Loh, Sembcorp Industries’ Group Sustainability Head said, “Our sustainability performance targets are very aligned to our brown-to-green transformation plan. They are ambitious, meaningful, and material to us and our businesses.”?

And Victor Vial, CFO of the Panama Canal, said?that by linking the canal’s pricing structure to the demonstrated climate commitments of the companies using it, they could incentivize customers’ behavioral change.

Opportunity for social benefits

Speakers also?pointed out that Sustainable Finance is a useful tool to achieve social benefits, such as education and jobs. “We think social indicators are a huge opportunity for sustainability-linked finance,?said Froydis Cameron-Johansson, Anglo American’s Group Head of International Government and Sustainability Relations.

IZSU General Manager Aysel ?zkan?noted that?IFC’s sustainability-linked loan?inspired the company to employ more women in male-dominated positions.?“Through this, women will have more career opportunities, with increased power in society,” she said.

Venture capital fueling innovation

Senior Vice President?Stephanie von Friedeburg spoke with Katie Rae,?CEO and Managing Partner of The Engine, about how venture capital is fueling innovation and creating next-gen fusion and new materials, producing?goods ranging from net-positive energy sources to lab-grown wood to green cement and contributing to?a circular economy.

Personal reflections and artistic expression

Adding a poignant, personal angle to the event, Shanghai-based?Katherine Koh, IFC Climate Lead for Infrastructure, and her children?spoke movingly?about the enduring COVID-related city lockdown challenges.

As in previous years, the event was interspersed with inspiring music and art. Among the performers—Olena Shoptenko, a Ukrainian dancer and choreographer, and?Beni-Fadi, a Senegalese musician—representing vastly different countries, but sharing the common pain of their people’s forced migration due to conflict or climate.

Mark Podlasly,?Director, Economic Policy, First Nations Major Project Coalition,?spoke about the importance of?Indigenous-inclusive climate policies and approaches.

ImillaSkate, an all-female skateboarding team from Bolivia, left the Exchange audience mesmerized with their skateboarding skills and sisterhood. Garbed in colorful “pollera” skirts to represent Indigenous women’s resilience, they skate to beat discrimination and gain inclusion.

Did you miss it? WATCH THE REPLAY.

This year’s Exchange was led by?Morgan Landy,?Bertrand Heysch de la Borde,?Veronica Nyhan Jones,?Ignacio de Calonje, and?Denise Odaro,?and involved several IFC?Infra?outreach and production colleagues including?Alex Burger,?Roy Clovis,?Valerie Prassl,?Nadine Ghannam,?Moussoukoro Diop, Bupe Mwangota,?Macarena De Martini, Maria Arsenova, Rikki Ogden, Alla Morrison, Gosia Nowakowska-Miller, Thuy Dinh,?and?many more. A special thanks also goes to the amazing hosts:?Fatoumata Diané,?Maria López Conde, and?Hicham Agouzzal.?

You might also be interested in:?

• CommDev
• Sustainable Finance in Infra
• Global Infrastructure
• Sustainability-Linked Finance