The webinar marked the launch of the new SBFN Toolkit on Sustainable Finance Taxonomies. This new toolkit is part of a series of toolkits developed by the IFC-facilitated Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN) to support member countries in developing national enabling frameworks for sustainable finance.

It responds to the accelerating trend in global, regional, and national taxonomies being introduced by financial sector regulators, banking associations, and international organizations to support sustainable finance.

The toolkit has been developed under the guidance of the SBFN Working Group on Sustainable Finance Instruments and in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, as well as various IFC, World Bank, and IMF teams.

It aims to support financial sector regulators, banking associations and interested users in emerging markets to develop and update national and regional taxonomies, leveraging international good practice and lessons learned from other countries. The toolkit reflects the emerging collective insights of SBFN members that have introduced taxonomies, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand, as well as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The webinar featured a presentation of the toolkit and a panel discussion with key stakeholders and countries leading the way in taxonomy development and implementation.