PRI-CASI Sustainability Forum for COP30 concluded in Brazil

SÃO PAULO, Nov. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The PRI-CASI Sustainability Forum for COP30 concluded on November 7 with a consensus on advancing key elements of the sustainable finance eco-system and boosting capacities in EMDEs. Co-hosted by Capacity-building Alliance of Sustainable Investment (CASI), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and Institute for Climate and Society (iCS), the half-day forum drew 150 participants from 25 jurisdictions, with strong Latin American representation.

The forum brought together policymakers, investors, industry leaders, and academics to tackle key barriers to scaling sustainable finance—taxonomy interoperability, improved disclosures, and cross-border capital mobilization. Speakers stressed the need to turn policy into action and use capacity-building to boost sustainable investment in Global South.

Ma Jun, Chairman of CASI, highlighted the initiative's expansion to 69 member institutions and training of over 7,000 professionals across 100 jurisdictions. He underscored urgency of closing capacity gaps in sustainable finance, including in Latin America for its emerging role as a climate investment hub.

David Atkin, CEO of PRI, addressed a critical gap: emerging markets hold 70% of global solar and wind potential yet receive less than 15% of such investment. Noting these investments reached USD2 trillion in 2024, he outlined a three-year strategy to bridge this disparity.

Maria Netto, Executive Director of iCS, identified three priorities for scaling sustainable finance: harmonizing taxonomies across jurisdictions, strengthening project pipelines, and blending public-private and domestic-international capital.

Carlos Takahashi from AMBIMA welcomed Brazil's sustainable finance taxonomy and highlighted key areas to scale sustainable finance, including strengthening technical capacity and promoting collaboration.

Erik Berglof from the AIIB – one of CASI's founding members – cited state capacity as key to net-zero, outlining four transition pillars - planning, markets, finance, and industrial policy - and highlighted Brazil's platform as a model. Johnathan Pershing, COP30 Envoy for North America, shared his views on risk management for sustainable assets.

Expert panels shared experiences and explored options on utilizing the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) and the Multi-jurisdictional Common Ground Taxonomy (MCGT) to boost cross-border green capital flows, adopting higher-quality and decision-useful sustainability disclosure standards, and developing tools to turn transparency into measurable climate outcomes.

CASI Academy also showcased expanded capacity-building products by introducing a multilingual curriculum and three-tier competence framework with exams and certifications.

The forum reaffirmed CASI's dedication to enhancing capacity building efforts for scaling sustainable finance ahead of COP30 and beyond.

Full Release in English: https://www.casi.net/events/177 

Contact:
Jessica Tsang, [email protected] 

SOURCE Capacity-building Alliance of Sustainable Investment (CASI)