Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds gave a keynote speech at the London Stock Exchange promising to £100m investment towards the UN’s sustainable development goals.

The seed funding, which hopes to attract multiples of private finance too, will be focussed on climate change and tackling poverty.

Noting that “London is the world’s number one hub…for green finance” Dodds announced the convening of an Investor Taskforce to increase private investment for climate and development, in markets around the world.

She praised the past performance of the Mobilising Institutional Capital Through Listed Product Structures (MOBILIST) initiative in creating $250m for listed products focussed on climate and development globally, and in particular the method of structuring bank infrastructure loans making it possible for institutional investors to purchase them through investment-grade listed instruments.

MOBLIST helped achieve a $100m first close for the Green Guarantee Company that will provide up to $1bn of guarantees for institutional investors buying green bonds, including those listed on the London Stock Exchange, and green loans issued in the private credit market.

Announcing up to £100m of additional funding for MOBILIST, Dodds also check off several other major UK investments in the Global South, and clearly signalled the intent to ‘encourage’ pension and insurance funds to invest.

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