Sustainable finance: a platform to raise awareness among savers and investors
This is a translation from a French article. To read the original, click here.
Written by Hugo Dabas, 27/11/2021
As COP26 saw mounting pressure on financial players to combat climate change, the European think tank 2 Degrees Investing Initiative launched the MyFairMoney platform on November 18, with the aim of raising awareness among savers about responsible investment products.
A new product to help you navigate the jungle of "green" financial products is being promoted by the sustainable savings platform MyFairMoney. Developed by 2 Degrees Investing Initiative (2DII) — a European think thank specializing in responsible finance — this platform is intended as an information tool for savers and investors.
"Reorienting households savings will be essential to finance the transition to a low-carbon emission economy," explains Tibaut Ghirardi, director of 2DII France, in a press release. "This goal is ambitious yet realistic, given that more and more individual investors are clearly stating their desire to invest responsibly". With MyFairMoney, the think tank reports that it has listed more than 4,000 funds available to French savers, with the option of choosing them based on 39 different environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
Sustainable finance is attracting growing interest from savers
The launch of this platform is part of the financial sector’s strategy to promote responsible investments. At COP26 in Glasgow, 450 financial actors from 45 countries signed the "Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero", which aims to achieve carbon neutrality in the financial sector "by 2050 at the latest."
On the savers’ side, the issue of sustainable development is also highly valued. According to a survey conducted for the Responsible Investment Forum (FIR) in September 2021, 59% of French respondents consider the environment and social impact of their investment to be important.
The same survey also indicates that French people are not yet familiar with sustainable saving options. Although crowdfunding is tops the list of preferred options, only 24% of respondents are aware of it, followed by solidarity savings at 19% and Social Responsible Investment (SRI) at 12%. For the latter, while only 7% of the savers say they have already invested in it, 26% say they would be do so if this option were offered to them by their financial advisor.