Background

As global energy consumption soars amid rapid population growth and economic expansion, contributing to the rising challenges of climate change worldwide, green growth has become a crucially important path for economic development and a priority for transitioning to a low-carbon economy, without which humanity will be hard-pressed to save the planet. To this end, in 2020 the International Finance Forum (IFF) initiated the IFF Global Green Finance Award to reward innovative green finance solutions worldwide. This award leverages IFF's global resources and aims to encourage international cooperation and the exchange of successful practices in this area, as well as to support sustainable development and achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IFF Global Green Finance Award targets applicants who offer green financial solutions that promote the transformation of economic growth models, contribute to pollution prevention and control, and address climate change, as well as those that improve energy efficiency, energy conservation, and emission reduction. This is a global call for innovations and application practices in policies, systems, industries, services, technologies, and talent building.

Since the Award was launched in 2020, it has been successfully held for four consecutive years with a total of 40 institutions and 30 projects selected for the Annual and Innovation Awards, and 3 institutions selected for the Spark award. The IFF Global Green Finance Award officially launched its global recruitment for the 2024 Award on May 15, 2024. The award ceremony will be held during the IFF Global Annual Meeting on November 24, 2024.

Salient features of the 2024 awards


Participation in high-level dialog:

  • One representative from the winning company will be eligible to attend the 2024 IFF Annual Meeting, a high-level dialogue platform in global finance;
  • Medal and certificate from the IFF.

Accreditation by authorities:

  • The Jury is composed of distinguished leaders and scholars from the global economic and financial realms.

Attention from key stakeholders:

  • Face-to-face communication with prominent figures in global green finance;
  • Winners are revealed and propagated in the IFF Global Annual report.

Significant international influence:

  • Positive reports and publicity in global mainstream media will improve the winner’s green finance credentials and enhance their brand image and popularity.

Goals and Principles

The IFF Global Green Finance Award is conducted with the goals of encouraging and attracting the participation of a more diverse range of institutions from different sectors while still ensuring the quality and standards of the awards. The Award also aims to increase the proportion of applicants and award winners that are international institutions and projects, and it also seeks to strengthen the international influence of the awards so as to promote green transformation and climate response in a wider range of fields and actively promote the achievement of the “dual carbon" goal and the UN’s SDGs.
Based on the above goals, and after integrating the experiences from previous awards along with feedback from various experts and institutions, the following principles are proposed for the IFF Global Green Finance Award 2024:

1. Maintain continuity and consistency within the core framework of the award, with the purpose, features, selection process, and evaluation indicators remaining essentially unchanged. Maintain a rigorous level of review through the entire application process to ensure the authority, fairness, and representation of the awards.

2. Encourage the participation of projects from multiple industries and involving cross-industry collaboration, and attract a wider range of industry institutions, solutions, and practical cases for participation. Financial participation in the promotion of progress and innovation also remains an underlying consideration.

3. Make the Award more international. Engage with multinational companies and international organizations to promote and expand dialogue on green financial cooperation as part of existing mechanisms for international cooperation.

4. Be pragmatic, rigorous, and innovation-driven. Find the right balance between innovation and replicability, social impact, and economic benefits, all while taking into account the differences in industries and stages of development.

Info

  • Award Features
  • Evaluation Indicators

    The IFF Global Green Finance Award consists of Annual Awards for institutions and Innovation Awards for innovative projects.

  • Annual Award

    Granted to institutions that have significant achievements in green finance practices, especially those that have outstanding performances in the promotion of the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals at the global, regional, or national level, and that are committed to addressing climate change and conserving biodiversity. To win this award, institutions must make outstanding contributions to sustainable development, and their green finance businesses must be both sustainable and profitable. (Max. 10 winners)

  • Innovation Award

    Granted to projects that demonstrate significant innovation in the field of green finance, especially those that have made significant contributions to promoting green transformation, achieving the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, effectively addressing climate change challenges, and promoting the UN SDGs. The Innovation Award covers, but is not limited to, innovative practices and solutions in policy formulation, institutional construction, industry development, service systems, technological innovation, and talent cultivation. (Max. 10 winners)

    Annual Award: 7 primary indicators and 15 secondary indicators.
    Innovation Award: 6 primary indicators and 13 secondary indicators.


    Eligibility Criteria for Applicants

  • Any institution that carries out activities which foster the development of green finance and which produce real benefits is eligible to apply for the Awards. Applicants may include public and private companies from different industries, as well as government agencies and non-profit organizations.
  • Applicants must have been founded/registered for at least three years as of the award application start date, and must not have any record of illegal or non-compliant behavior within the past three years.
  • Applicants must have made actual economic, environmental, or social impacts in green transition, climate change, and sustainable development.
  • There is no threshold for the scale of a project or the scale of its economic, environmental, or societal impacts.
  • Each applicant can only apply for one of the award categories.
  • Previous winners of the Award are discouraged from reapplying for the same category of the Award.

Message from Judges

Timeline

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