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Guernsey's finance businesses will be encouraged to work with the King's Sustainable Markets Initiative after a successful meeting between the Monarch and local industry experts.
Green funds and investments, solar energy, and habitat banks were also on the agenda when His Majesty met delegates for a private discussion during his Visit to the island.
Having championed environmental issues for decades, His Majesty was described as "extremely knowledgable" on the topics he talked about with representatives from Guernsey Finance and other organisations.
His own work to further environmental issues - through Terra Carta and other platforms - will now be backed by businesses here too.
Pictured: 'Terra Carta' is the guiding mandate for the King's Sustainable Markets Initiative, which reflects his known environmental interests.
King Charles III's day trip to Guernsey on 16 July was his first as Monarch and involved formal ceremonies so each of Guernsey, Alderney and Sark could affirm allegiance to the Crown.
He and his wife, Queen Camilla, also met thousands of members of the public, planted a tree at Government House, and Her Majesty visited Hauteville House.
Over lunchtime, His Majesty held meetings at Government House including these discussions on sustainable finance.
The delegation of sustainable finance experts that he was introduced to had been selected by Guernsey Finance to reflect the breadth of initiatives undertaken locally.
“It was the honour of a lifetime to meet His Majesty on his visit to Guernsey and have the opportunity to discuss with him Guernsey’s credentials as a global leader in sustainable finance,” said Guernsey Finance Chief Executive Rupert Pleasant.
Pictured: His Majesty meeting Rupert Pleasant, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance and others. (Chris George)
Through these meetings, those present said that King Charles learned about "Guernsey’s role as a leading proponent and innovator in the field of sustainable finance and how the island has implemented environmental initiatives within its own infrastructure".
The King was told about the Guernsey Green Fund and Natural Capital Fund designations, both said to be "world firsts in environment finance".
His Majesty also discussed the provision of solar energy in the UK with representatives from NextEnergy Group and Carey Olsen, and the positive environmental impact created through investment into British Sustainable Infrastructure Strategies (BSIF) with representatives from Gresham House and Ocorian.
Green schemes that the King himself has been involved with establishing - such as his Sustainable Markets Initiatives - will now be endorsed locally to further encourage sustainability within the finance sector.
Pictured (l-r): Paul Duquemin and Rupert Pleasant discuss green finance initiatives with King Charles III.
“As the founder of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and someone who has championed the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss for many decades, The King is extremely knowledgeable in this area," said Mr Pleasant.
“I am delighted to confirm that Guernsey Finance and the Sustainable Markets Initiative have agreed to further discuss ways in which Guernsey's financial services sector can participate in the variety of Sustainable Markets Initiative task forces and raise awareness of the Terra Carta to financial services firms that use Guernsey and which are committed to sustainability.”
Also present at the meeting were Noel Quinn, Global Head of HSBC, and Emmanuelle Bury of BNP Paribas from The King’s Sustainable Markets Initiative.
The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s mandate, which was launched in 2021, and better known as the Terra Carta, has a mission to build a coordinated global effort to enable the private sector to accelerate the achievement of global climate, biodiversity and Sustainable Development Goal targets.
The Terra Carta reflects a set of guiding principles that put People, Planet and Nature at the heart of global value creation.
Among some of the green initiatives adopted by Guernsey's finance sector are those included in the presentation to the King.
NextEnergy Solar Fund, established in Guernsey in 2014 to accelerate the growth of the solar sector in the United Kingdom, is an accredited Guernsey Green Fund, a constituent of the FTSE250 index on the London Stock Exchange and owns 100 solar plants across the UK powering the equivalent of over 300,000 homes yearly.
Gresham House has eight British Sustainable Infrastructure (BSIF) Strategies funds domiciled in Guernsey, with more than £900m of capital.
BSIF’s impactful greenfield investments include new vertical farms, converting waste into a replacement for fossil fuels and building landscape scale habitat banks, all based in the United Kingdom.
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