Launched under the Isle of Man’s Sustainable Finance Roadmap, a comprehensive scheme, developed in partnership with Ireland’s International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence (ISFCOE), targeted to become a world leader in sustainable finance. Ambitious in scope and ambition, it aims at transforming the Island into a financial powerhouse for responsible investment – a significant step forward, aligned to international standards and climate action goals for sustainable economic growth.
The self-governing and, uniquely positioned, world’s only UNESCO Biosphere, the Isle of Man can leverage its natural and financial strengths to lead in sustainable finance. It sets out ten key actions through the Roadmap in a drive to attract and mobilize green capital while ensuring the Isle of Man at the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development.
Partnership with ISFCOE: A Strong Foundation for Growth
The commitment of the Isle of Man to adopt best international standards and practices in sustainable finance is reaffirmed by partnership with ISFCOE, one of the leading global authorities in sustainable finance. The expertise of ISFCOE has been pivotal in shaping the Roadmap to ensure that the Isle of Man is well positioned to develop and offer innovative financial products that satisfy demand for sustainable investments.
This also positions the Isle of Man as a regional hub for sustainable finance, supporting it in serving as a bridge for green investments across the British and Celtic Isles. The Roadmap envisions this Island playing an important role in facilitating capital flows toward achieving a net-zero, nature-positive economy.
Key Actions for Sustainable Finance Leadership
The specific actions outlined by the Sustainable Finance Roadmap are intended to guide the Isle of Man towards becoming a global leader in sustainable finance by 2026. Infrastructure development and capacity building form the first part of the set of these actions, and from that way, a good foundation is established for long-term growth of the sustainable finance sector. Among them are:
Establish the Isle of Man Sustainable Finance Initiative: It would function as this coordinating body in raising the financial sector’s profile in the Island and sustainably promoting awareness of sustainable finance to accelerate the transformation of that sector toward a more sustainable culture.
Development of a Sustainable Investment Product Label Framework: The development of such a framework for labeling sustainable investment products, which are managed funds in the insurance and pension industries, will allow for greater transparency of such funds, thus assisting in attracting international investors.
Launching a Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Programme. Over the course of the next two years, it will build expertise in key financial services sectors including insurance, funds, wealth management, and corporate services.
Beijing’s international commitment, aiming to become a full member of the UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability Network by 2025, builds further on international sustainability credentials.It needs to explore new financing instruments that support global projects with the development of new funding mechanisms for UNESCO Biosphere projects. Leverage the Island’s Natural Strengths
The Isle of Man is uniquely positioned as the only UNESCO Biosphere nation-the very significant opportunity in sustainable finance-specifically developing innovative financial instruments such as the blue bonds. Blue bonds target raising capital for marine biodiversity and conservation projects and therefore provide an unparalleled investment instrument related to protection and restoration of this valuable marine environment in the Island.
The island location of the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea, places it well for the renewable energy sector, such as offshore wind. Making the Island easy to get to for raising capital into these technologies puts it at the forefront of a global turn toward sustainability and will position it as a leader in the finance of green energy.
Island as a Living Laboratory for Sustainable Finance
The Island’s vision in this regard is to become a “living laboratory” for sustainable finance. The Roadmap calls on the role the Island can play as a model and accelerator of capital mobilization for net-zero, nature-positive and socially just economic transitions. The practices of sustainable finance can be rolled out at both local and global levels and will serve as a demonstration for other jurisdictions.
Government and Industry Leader Support
The launch of the Roadmap was accompanied by a symposium event on 5th November with speakers that included key speakers such as Tim Johnston: Minister for Enterprise, Isle of Man Government, and Hannah Simons: Head of Sustainability, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets. This underlines how sustainable finance forms a key part of Island’s economic growth and sustainability work.
Minister Tim Johnston underscored sustainable finance in the global financial ecosystem since financial services represent nearly half of the Isle of Man’s economy. “We are determined to build on our sustainable finance offering—aligning closely with the Island’s Economic Strategy,” he said.
Finance Isle of Man CEO Michael Crowe shared the same opinion by saying, “Strengthening our offering in sustainable finance is an absolute ‘must-do’ initiative for the Isle of Man’s finance sector. The vision set out in the Roadmap will not only contribute to capital flows for sustainability but will also ensure our competitiveness in this growing sector.”