Enel CFO guides launch of global initiative to mobilize trillions of dollars towards the sustainable development goals

Enel CFO Alberto De Paoli participated in the launch of the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce’s global SDG initiative during the UN Global Compact Uniting Business LIVE held on the sidelines of the 76^th UN General Assembly. The CFOs gathered during the UN Global CFO Taskforce event “Financing a Sustainable Future – CFO Insights” announced their commitment to collectively invest 500 billion US dollars in the next five years towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to link close to 50 percent of all corporate financing to sustainability performance, with plans to issue new sustainable finance instruments, including Sustainability-linked bonds.

These initial financial commitments are likely to increase further as the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce seeks to recruit hundreds of UN Global Compact participating companies to radically scale up the amount of corporate investment aligned to sustainability goals and outcomes.

“With this commitment we set a necessary milestone on a journey which began in December 2019 when a small group of CFOs started working together towards a vision of boosting the integration of sustainability within business operations,” said Alberto De Paoli, Enel CFO and Co-chair of the CFO Taskforce. “Now, we aim to increase awareness even further and help create the necessary environment to attract more capital towards sustainable development.”

If successful, such a global movement of finance chiefs and their corporations could potentially mobilize trillions of investment dollars annually in support of the Sustainable Development Goals—in areas such as sustainable infrastructure; renewable energy; water; health; food and agriculture; gender; and decent work.

To drive the commitment of billions, and potentially trillions of corporate finance towards the SDGs, the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce has created a comprehensive management and governance framework, The CFO Principles for Integrated SDG Investments and Finance.

The UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce (cfotaskforce.org) was launched by the UN Global Compact in December 2019 with a small group of leading CFOs to build on the work developed by the Financial Innovation for the SDGs Action Platform. Its goal is to inspire a new meaning for the role of CFOs as the architects of long-term sustainable value creation by raising awareness of the transformative impact of corporate finance across financial markets, the global economy and society as a whole. It also aspires to create a market for corporate SDG investments and finance that is sufficiently diverse and transparent to channel trillions of dollars of financial investments towards effective private-sector solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals. The CFO Taskforce provides CFOs with a platform to share ideas, develop new concepts and frameworks, and provide recommendations to unlock private capital and create a market for mainstream SDG investments.