ESG and development

The OPEC Fund Quarterly 2020 4 edition examines environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. What does the rapid growth in ESG investments – and the increased scrutiny – mean for the international development community? Does the COVID-19 crisis divert the ESG gaze? Or is ESG now even more important than before?  

We feature a number of ESG experts, who all bring different perspectives. Full articles can be accessed on the right.  

Private finance is still not finding its way into investments in developing countries at the scale and  speed needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

 -  SDG finance specialist Gail Hurley

At IFC, we’ve identified a critical issue: there is no one  acceptable framework for ESG disclosure,” she explains. “To address this, we developed IFC’s Disclosure and Transparency Toolkit that streamlines current reporting frameworks and provides a step-by-step approach on ESG disclosure and transparency for emerging markets.”

- Mary Porter Peschka, from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Until recently, investing in low-income countries has been associated mainly with impact investing and providing aid. Increasingly, as global private investors allocate capital to real assets in developing countries – specifically real estate, infrastructure and private equity – more conversations need to take place about the ESG performance of those assets.”

- Dr Alexis Crow, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) lead of geopolitical investing.

There are examples across the world where overlooked factors or issues have had important unintended  effects that often cannot be reversed.”

- Juan E Notaro Fraga, Executive President of FONPLATA Development Bank

Today, the great opportunity for investors is to support emerging market countries who are ready to embrace the transition to a low-carbon economy.” 

- BNP Paribas’ Felipe Gordillo

As the only globally-mandated development institution to provide financing from member countries to non-member countries, the OPEC Fund has  been looking at ESG through the lens of sustainable, equitable, long-term partnerships with those we lend to for several decades."

 - OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa