Banking for a Better World

Front matter

BANKING

To our children, their children and their children’s children

BANKING FORA

Contents

105 125 139 141 143 145

Foreword Introduction The Defining Moments of My Working Life

Sustainable Development as a Business Opportunity Financing Sustainable Development

Foreword

This book is about banking for a better world. “Banking” and

“a better world” are not often associated with one another,

and yet this book argues that the latter will require the former. In examining the challenges the world currently faces in reducing poverty and inequality, addressing climate change, and safeguarding biodiversity, this book highlights the changing responsibilities of businesses, governments, financial institutions, and civil society. It also details the crucial role that development banks can play as catalysts for sustainable development.

A series of conferences that took place in 2015 have led to nothing short of a paradigm shift in the way we think about international development, the environment, and finance. They have transformed the division of roles between North and South and between governments and the private sector. This shift has opened up tremendous opportunities for businesses, banks, civil society, knowledge organisations, and governments alike to contribute to achieving a sustainable world — one in which more than nine billion people (the expected world population in 2050) live well and within the planet’s ecological limits. Banking for a Better World asserts that sustainable development is not only doable but also desirable for all. Development banks will be essential in bringing about the much-needed scaling up of sustainability projects by serving as important bridges between the public and private sectors, thereby maximising the impact of the scarce government resources currently available.

Banking for a Better World is based on a series of conversations that took place over the last eight years between myself, Chief Executive Officer of FMO, and Marijn Wiersma, who has been enabling innovation and change at FMO. These conversations delved into such topics as FMO’s

Foreword 7 role in the path to sustainable development, the role of the public and private sectors in the same path, the development of innovative business models, and how to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.

The stories in this book are based on my 40 years of experience in developing countries, of which the last 29 have been in various roles at FMO. I saw my departure from FMO as an excellent opportunity to condense my experience into something that could be shared and, we hope, something from which to learn. I knew that the best way to transform my ideas into meaningful stories was to base them on the conversations I have had with Marijn over the years. Without this cooperation, this book would not have seen the light of day. Although the book is inspired by our conversations, it is not written in the form of a conversation.