The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has entered a year-long partnership with the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) ahead of next year’s United Nations climate change conference, better known as COP28.

The partnership aims to drive commitment and action ahead of COP28 which will be held hosted by the UAE government on November 6-17, 2023 in Dubai Expo City.

DIFC and GEFI will seek to engender change in areas such as net zero, islamic finance, financing nature and biodiversity, and financing the sustainable development goals.

As host financial centre for GEFI’s Path to COP28 programme, DIFC will also support a series of report launches, roundtables and community engagements in Dubai in the next 12 months.

The initiative also complements the recent launch of the DIFC-chaired Dubai Sustainable Finance Working Group’s (DSFWG) Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) maturity self-assessment tool.

“DIFC and GEFI are delighted that the financial services sector is the first industry to launch a programme that aligns with the UAE government’s COP28 agenda.

 

DIFC is perfectly placed to be host financial centre for the Path to COP28 programme given the progress we have already made and will continue to make on climate related matters with our clients,”

said Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority.

“Our Path to COP28 campaign seeks to encourage and support financial institutions in transitioning from commitment to actual implementation, measurement and reporting.

 

The maturity and foresight of the UAE government and DIFC as a world-class financial centre is critical to encouraging the regional financial sector to ramp up its environmental awareness and commitment towards achieving the COP targets,”

said Omar Shaikh, Co-Founder and Managing Director of GEFI.