$10 trillion a year. Yes really!
This unbelievably huge amount of money is available to fund the vital transition to a financial system that accelerates tackling climate change, nature, and biodiversity.
So can this be achieved? Can the anchor chains holding back bold thinking be eliminated?
In this podcast, Steve Waygood, explains to TTU’s Nik Gowing why his answer is an emphatic “yes!”. The transition can be achieved by inspiring new confidence and fostering far greater collaboration. But it must be done with far greater urgency.
Steve is a much admired and respected veteran of the arm wrestling needed to create new mindsets for creating radical solutions to fund actions on sustainability. He was Chief Sustainability Finance Advisor at Aviva Investors for 20 years. Now he has broken away in order to try to intensify opportunities and momentum through the newly created Finance Transition Centre (FTC).
Steve’s warning is stark. Time is running out. Radical action is needed to mobilise a good part of that $10 trillion.
He explains to us how that can be done. But more ominously: he tells us why the global financial system is at risk of eventual collapse if the fundamental reforms aren’t actioned fast.
Therefore a big kick to broaden minds is needed. And as Steve tells this podcast this is what the FTC has been created to achieve.
There is a shift to positives. Mindsets are changing. Zombie orthodoxies in thinking are being overcome. Yet the pace and scale are still nothing like what is needed. Bridges must be built between public institutions, private capital, and civil society to mobilise that &10 trillion.
“It’s 10 trillion every year. And it’s not 10 trillion that’s a gift or overseas development assistance… The majority will be investment capital invested for return. We can do this. It can be mobilised,” Steve tells Nik. He adds that the core obstacle isn’t a lack of capital; it’s that the current real economy still makes it too profitable to extract and burn fossil fuels.
“We have to stress the systemic risk, but we also must stress the immense financial opportunity in building a resilient, net-zero economy.”
Listen to Steve explain how the Finance Transition Centre is aimed at achieving this by bridging local and institutional realities with global capital platforms that drive huge change. “By combining rigorous policy advocacy, asset owner mobilisation, and macro-stewardship, we can build the public and financial understanding needed before time runs out”.
Steve Waygood
Steve is Chief Executive of The Finance Transition Centre – a think tank and education centre focussed on mobilising capital in support of sustainable development – and a Trustee of WWF-UK. Previously, he was Chief Sustainable Finance Officer at Aviva Investors. He holds a PhD in sustainable finance and is Honorary Visiting Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Surrey.
Steve has advised the UK Government, the European Commission, the G20, the Financial Stability Board, the OECD and the UN on the creation of sustainable capital markets.
He has received awards from Brummell, the International Chamber of Commerce, the City of London, the United Nations Foundation, Yale and Harvard. In 2024, he was listed among the 80 most influential people in European finance by Financial News.
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