Green Public Financial Management, ESG and Sustainable Financing

Dates:

• 14 - 18 June 2027

• 11 - 15 October 2027

Workshop Overview

The recurrence of climate and disaster risks across different continents has been a wake-up call for governments, businesses and individuals to urgently mitigate such risks and contribute towards a more sustainable future.  Public financial management (PFM) has a unique role to address environmental and disaster risks by integrating climate change responses into planning, budgeting and expenditure processes.

At the same time, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) mandates have become critical in development financing as a growing number of investors tend to prioritise sustainable and socially responsible projects. Governments and the private sector can no more ignore the importance of ESG for strengthening fiscal resilience, investor confidence and transparency in a climate-constrained world.

While over 190 countries have submitted policy commitments on tackling climate change in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement much more needs to be done at the country level to achieve and demonstrate compliance. Public finance managers are a critical element of devising  strategic transition plans to enable countries to meet their Net Zero, ESG and NDC goals.

This workshop will help policy makers, practitioners and other participants examine and adopt green PFM strategies and practices. While becoming privy to different current and emerging challenges and risks as well as opportunities in embracing a vibrant ESG framework, delegates will critically assess their PFM policies, financing strategy and capital investment framework.  This will include consideration of the potential impact on IFRS/IPSAS sustainability reporting on securing development finance.  Delegates will also explore pertinent issues of ethics and integrity and how to be ready to address ‘greenwashing’ and corruption risks.

This highly practical training will equip delegates with the necessary understanding, skills and tools to confidently address these complex issues and help their organisation to deliver on its environmental and social impact goals while also pursuing its development agenda.

Course Objectives

On completion, you will be able to:

• Identify key climate change, disaster and ESG risks, especially their fiscal impact  and opportunities facing your organisation
• Adapt fiscal, public finance policy and strategy for greening your existing PFM framework taking account of ESG risks, opportunities and obligations
• Assess, plan and budget for capital and investments in the context of your country’s NDCs
• Gauge the new development landscape and appreciate how the range of private and official financing options available for sustainable investment can be sourced credibly
• Address key ESG issues facing finance staff, procurement staff, auditors and pensions investors
• Respond to ESG and climate-related disclosure, reporting and accounting requirements under IFRS and IPSAS and help build trust in communicating better to all stakeholders

Key Topics

• Emerging fiscal, climate and sustainable risks affecting countries’ PFM framework
• Practical solutions for greening the PFM cycle across different types of economies
• Local and global drivers for embracing ESG in public and private sector entities
• Green investment cycle, including budgeting, planning and embracing sustainable procurement while minimising corruption risk
• ESG and sustainability in programme / project appraisal
• Environmental, climate and social impact assessments
• Private capital flows and multilateral strategies shaping the Climate and Sustainable finance landscape: Green, Social, ESG and Sustainability-linked bonds and innovative instruments
• Leveraging technology, including AI to better equip public financial managers in carrying mundane and sophisticated tasks
• Transparency, greenwashing, ethics and corruption risks
• Sustainability and integrated ESG reporting under the international frameworks