The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) announced today that it is now a member of the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), becoming one of the first regulatory authorities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to join the NGFS.

The NGFS is a group of Central Banks and Supervisors willing, on a voluntary basis, to exchange experiences, share best practices, contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial sector, and to mobilise mainstream finance to support the transition toward a sustainable economy. The network’s purpose is to help in strengthening the global response required to meet the goals of the Paris agreement, and to enhance the role of the financial system to manage risks and to mobilise capital for green and low-carbon investments in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.

The NGFS was established in December 2017 by eight central banks and supervisors at the Paris One Planet Summit. Since then, the NGFS has grown to 42 members and eight observers, representing five continents.

Bryan Stirewalt, Chief Executive of the DFSA, said: “In August 2018, the DFSA issued its guidelines on green bonds that aim to facilitate the issuing and listing of environmentally friendly fixed income securities, including Green Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai, the largest listing exchange of issued Sukuk in the world. We are pleased to be a member of the NGFS alongside our regulatory peers around the world. We look forward to working with other members of the NGFS to further develop environment and climate risk management standards for the financial sector and to support global sustainable economic development goals. The DFSA welcomes NGFS’s first comprehensive report published in April 2019 and supports the recommendations for central banks, supervisors, policymakers and financial institutions aiming to enhance their role in the greening of the financial system and the managing of environment and climate-related risks.”

Frank Elderson, Chairman of the NGFS, said: “We are glad to have the DFSA join the NGFS. In a relatively short timeframe, the NGFS has successfully become the international network for central banks and financial service supervisors in the green and sustainable finance field. The NGFS brings together authorities and international organisations from around the world, all working together to move forward the greening of the financial system. It is important for the NGFS to have member authorities from the GCC and the MENA regions to ensure that their environmental and climate challenges are well understood and considered by the international community and to benefit from their experience dealing with these risks.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Green Economy for Sustainable Development in 2012. The long-term national initiative aims to build a green economy in the UAE; the DFSA is committed to working towards that objective. Sustainability has been one of the DFSA’s four strategic themes since 2014 and remains a key priority; the DFSA’s sustainable and green finance efforts support the Government of the UAE’s sustainable economic development goals.