Harnessing the Potential of Digital Sustainable Finance to Accelerate the Agenda 2030

Event Type
Roundtable and Public Book Launch

Location / Date
Bonn, 08.10.2025

Organizer

Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), German Institute for Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS University of London

Digital technologies are revolutionising the financial sector. They also provide an opportunity for overcoming barriers to development and sustainable finance. For instance, big data and automated data collection allow for analysing and assessing risk and impacts at a fraction of the cost of conventional approaches. They also provide an opportunity for reinventing capital market infrastructure and developing new, innovative fundraising approaches that suit the specific needs of borrowers and local investors. The event will discuss and define concrete ways to turn potential into actions that will scale sustainable digital finance across emerging and developing markets. It will comprise a closed-door roundtable with two sessions in the morning and a public event in the afternoon which will celebrate the launch of the new book “Sustainable Digital Finance”.

Schedule:

  • 9:00-12:30: Closed-door roundtable (by invitation only)
  • 14:00-16:00: Public book launch event

You are cordially invited to the public session in the afternoon, where the new book will be launched. The book is co-edited by Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Vice Chair of the GIZ-Management Board, with a contribution from SOAS and IDOS. In this book, more than 50 experts from academia, central banks, technology companies, banks, fintechs, and foundations across the globe describe their perspectives. The authors provide successful case studies as well as recommendations for concrete next steps to make digital finance work for sustainable development.

The public book launch will provide an overview of the book and its relevance for development and climate finance, as well as brief presentations of the key findings from three chapters. There will also be a panel discussion on “What Are the Next Steps to Unlock the Potential of Digital Sustainable Finance to Accelerate the Agenda 2030?”

Confirmed speakers include:

  •  Arlina Elmiger, Director Digitalisation, Innovation, Communications, KfW Development Bank
  • Marianne Haahr, Executive Director of the IAPB, alongside SOAS Senior Fellow
  • Dr Erica Moret, Director for United Nations Affairs and International Organizations, Microsoft
  • Prof Bitange Ndemo, Kenya’s Ambassador to Belgium
  • Dr Iliya Nickelt, Chief Digital Scientist, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • Prof Ulrich Volz, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS University of London & Senior Research Fellow, IDOS

Hinweis

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