COP26 Regional Ambassador at the Colombo Development Dialogues

Speakers and panellists at Session 4 of CDD on Green Development 

• 4-part series concludes with 40+ speakers from 10 countries making it the largest conversation on green development 

Regional Ambassador Ken O'Flaherty at the CDD on GD

The Colombo Development Dialogues on Green Development, an initiative of the Ministry of Environment together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka, and other co-convening partners

successfully concluded recently. Building on rich discussions spread over two weeks, the final two sessions held on 21 and 22 October, sought to explore green financing possibilities and frame a multistakeholder approach to green development.

The UK Government's COP26 Regional Ambassador to Asia-Pacific and South Asia Ken O’Flaherty in a special address highlighted the importance of countries adopting greener growth trajectory to avoid a spike in greenhouse gas emissions as well as how government, private sector, and others, including the general public, have a vested interest in pursuing climate action. 

The COP26 summit, currently taking place in Glasgow until mid-November, will convene a broad spectrum of stakeholders to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This year’s summit is expected to be decisive – with many stakeholders believing this year’s event to be the final global opportunity to agree on climate change controls and the ramifications of planetary pressures caused by unsustainable development practices.

The session on green financing featured prominent Government stakeholders such as Central Bank of Sri Lanka Deputy Governor T.M.J.Y.P. Fernando, who spoke on the role and contribution of the finance sector towards leveraging green finance for development and the Central Bank’s commitments for sustainable financing. 

This was discussed in the context of a ‘Roadmap for Sustainable Finance in Sri Lanka’ launched by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka with the financial assistance of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of UNDP along with technical assistance of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in consultation with multiple other key stakeholders.

UNDP Finance Sector Hub Chief of Programme Thomas Beloe emphasised the need to bridge the SDG financing gap and the inefficient allocations of resources such as through continuous investments in carbon-intensive sectors, thus stressing the need for systemic change to incorporate sustainable development at its core.

In addressing the need for a multistakeholder approach to green development, BOI Chairman Sanjaya Mohottala outlined the aim and vision of the Government as well as opportunities from and challenges to green financing and green investment through collaboration. 

Bringing in a private sector perspective, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Secretary General and CEO Manjula De Silva stressed upon the importance of monetary incentives and concessionary financing for a sustainable transition of traditional business practices to develop better corporate citizens.

The Government’s commitment and drive to take this initiative forward was further emphasised by Ministry of Environment and Presidential Task Force (PTF) on ‘Creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions to Climate Change’ Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe at the closing session, who spoke to how this multistakeholder mobilisation platform would facilitate not only the overall implementation of a National Framework for Green Development in Sri Lanka, but also support to the realisation of other specific plans of action, including the Nationally Determined Contributions and the National Environment Action Plan, among others yet to be developed by the PTF.

The final two sessions also featured French Development Agency Country Director Reda Souirgi, HSBC Global Banking ESG Solutions Managing Director Jonathan Drew, Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd. Chairperson and Managing Director Hajar Alafifi, K-Water in Daejeon, Republic of Korea Director Dr. Hong-Sang Jung, UNEP Programme Officer, Consumption and Production Unit Bettina Heller and UNDP Sri Lanka Resident Representative Robert Juhkam.

Panellists also included Institute of Policy Studies Executive Director Dr. Dushni Weerakoon, Global Green Growth Institute Regional Investment Lead – Asia-Pacific Gulshan Vashistha, Commonwealth Secretariat National Climate Finance Advisor Ranga Pallawala, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Officer Victor Antonypillai, HSBC Interim Chief Executive Officer Stuart Rogers, Centre for Environmental Justice Director Dr. Kokila Konasinghe, UNEP Asia-Pacific office Regional Coordinator for Resource Efficiency Mushtaq Memon, Unilever General Manager, Regulatory Affairs South Asia Dr. A. Sivakumar, Ministry of Environment Climate Change Secretariat Director Kumudini Vidyalankara and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation Representative for Sri Lanka, Bhutan, India, Maldives and Nepal Dr. Rene Van Berkel.

The Colombo Development Dialogues on Green Development brought together 20+ partners and close to 40 speakers joining from nearly 10 countries across four days. The dialogues aimed to reaffirm Sri Lanka’s climate and environmental commitments, by encouraging policymakers to consider bringing cohesion to diverse green initiatives and creating a multistakeholder platform to support the positioning of green development in the country as an urgent and all-encompassing priority. 

Aligned with the foci of the Sustainable Development Goals, the dialogues helped frame narratives on innovative policy making, sustainable financing, and multi-stakeholder collaboration that will allow key stakeholders to articulate policy underpinnings to support the formulation of a National Framework for Green Development in Sri Lanka.