The launch of the third phase of the DGI (DGI-3) was endorsed by the G20 Leaders in November 2022. To support policymakers’ ability to develop the right policy measures, the DGI-3 aims at implementing robust, comprehensive, and comparable statistics on four policy priority areas: climate change mitigation and adaptation, household distributional aspects, financial innovation and inclusion, and data access and sharing.
To support the DGI-3, the WGSD developed a project plan for a Recommendation 4 on Climate Finance, which defines precise data sets on climate finance debt securities and green listed shares. According to the approved DGI-3 workplan, Recommendation 4 envisages G20 economies
- to “provide (preferably on a quarterly frequency) experimental data on issuances and holdings of green debt securities and listed shares securities to the BIS, based on self-commitments and consistent as much as possible with the Handbook on Securities Statistics (HSS), and any other specific guidance developed in the context of the recommendation, and provide documentation on the compilation methodology” and
- to “work together […] to develop methodological guidance to support greater interoperability and comparability of approaches for the statistical recording of green debt securities and listed shares across the G20 economies.”
To kick off the work on Recommendation 4 on Climate Finance, the WGSD organised a virtual workshop on 15-16 May 2023, which was attended by Recommendation 4 Task Team members and other representatives from 21 G20 and FSB economies, the FSB, the OECD, the World Bank and the WGSD members. Participants discussed the Recommendation 4 project plan, started the work on defining the Recommendation 4 reporting templates, and exchanged experiences on the collection and compilation of climate finance data. Regarding the Recommendation 4 reporting infrastructure, Task Team members stressed the importance of the use of the self-commitments approach and considered it a sensible way forward to leverage on the existing infrastructure implemented by the G20 economies under DGI-2 Recommendation 7 on Securities Statistics.
To provide a better overview of the ongoing work on climate finance data across economies, the WGSD conducted a survey on securities statistics and climate finance data during July/August 2023. The results of the survey showed that many G20/FSB economies already collect data on issuances of climate finance debt securities, and suggested a promising basis for the implementation of Recommendation 4, as already existing data collections on climate finance debt securities were generally aligned with the basic structure of the proposed Recommendation 4 reporting templates.
To progress with the work on the Recommendation 4 reporting templates and methodology, a physical Workshop on Securities Statistics for G20 and FSB economies was held in Cape Town (ZA) on 5-6 October 2023. It was hosted by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) with the support of the BIS IFC and organised by the WGSD. It was attended (both physically and virtually) by 72 Recommendation 4 Task Team members and other representatives from 19 G20 and FSB economies, 4 other IFC member central banks, the WGSD members, OECD, and FSB.
At the Workshop, Task Team members agreed on the Recommendation 4 reporting templates and targets. The templates cover a set of tables for issuances, holdings and from-whom-to-whom statistics on green, sustainability, and sustainability-linked debt securities, as well as green listed shares, with the templates on the different types of climate finance debt securities presenting “of which” breakdowns of the established DGI-2 Recommendation 7 breakdowns. The reporting targets include a basic intermediate target for core data on green debt securities by end-2025 and a final target for other data by the end of the DGI-3 at end-2027. The reporting will rely on the existing DGI-2 Recommendation 7 reporting infrastructure, including frequency, timeliness, use of the methodology of the Handbook on Securities Statistics (HSS), and use of the Global DSD for Sector Accounts (NA_SEC). The agreed templates and targets are described in an accompanying “Explanatory Note on the Recommendation 4 Reporting Templates”.
Task Team members agreed to collect economies’ self-commitments on climate finance debt securities by end-2023, while self-commitments for green listed shares should be collected later once the concept of green listed shares has been further defined.
The Workshop also started discussing the definitions for climate finance securities, provided feedback on the draft definitions developed by the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) in the context of the SNA update process, and continued exchanging experiences on climate finance data.
Building on these discussions and the results of a questionnaire on compilation practices for climate finance securities, the WGSD prepared two guidance notes on climate finance debt securities and green listed shares. The notes include harmonised definitions and compilation guidance for climate finance debt securities and green listed shares, which were developed in close cooperation with the respective SNA drafting team to ensure alignment of the Recommendation 4 and 2025 SNA definitions. The notes were agreed by the Recommendation 4 Task Team in a written consultation in September 2024 and provide harmonised guidance for compiling aggregates on climate finance securities, while at the same time acknowledging that different economies may rely on different taxonomies in the compilation process.
To plan the next steps for the implementation work on Recommendation 4, the WGSD organised a virtual workshop on 25-26 November 2024, which was attended by Recommendation 4 Task Team members and other representatives from 19 G20 and FSB economies, the FSB, the OECD, and the WGSD members. Participants discussed the Recommendation 4 project plan, exchanged experiences on the collection and compilation of climate finance data, and reached a common view on the next steps for the Recommendation 4 work including the collection of self-commitments for green listed shares and conducting a stock-taking survey on economies’ implementation plans.
Based on the agreed Recommendation 4 reporting templates and methodological guidance notes, Recommendation 4 Task Team members provided self-commitments on reporting data for climate finance debt securities (tables 1.1a to 3.1c of the Recommendation 4 reporting templates) in January 2024 and self-commitments on reporting data for green listed shares (tables 4.1 to 6.1 of the Recommendation 4 reporting templates) in January 2025. While considering different statistical capacities and national priorities, economies’ self-commitments provide for the first time for the reporting of harmonised data on climate finance in the G20/FSB economies, covering more than 20,000 new time-series on climate finance securities.
To support the Recommendation 4 implementation work, a physical Workshop on Securities Statistics for G20 and FSB economies was held in Brasilia (BR) on 20-21 May 2025. It was hosted by the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) with the support of the BIS IFC and organised by the WGSD. It was attended (both physically and virtually) by 64 Recommendation 4 Task Team members and other representatives from 19 G20 and FSB economies, one other IFC member central bank, the WGSD members, OECD, and FSB.
At the Workshop, Task Team members reviewed the G20/FSB economies’ self-commitments for the reporting of climate finance data as well as the results of a stock-taking survey on economies’ Recommendation 4 implementation plans conducted in early 2025. The survey results showed that economies have concrete plans for the implementation of their self-commitments, and Task Team members concluded that the self-commitments provided a promising basis for the implementation of Recommendation 4, including significant potential for knowledge-sharing across economies. The Workshop also discussed practical guidance on compiling statistics for climate finance debt securities and green listed shares, considering the lessons learned and experiences made over the last two years. The discussion identified best practices for compiling climate finance statistics, illustrated available data sources including commercial data, and highlighted challenges, especially regarding compiling aggregates for green listed shares. Task Team members also reached a common view on the next steps for Recommendation 4, including allowing for the collection of additional self-commitments (especially for green listed shares) considering the practical compilation guidance shared at the Workshop.
For the practical implementation and reporting of the new Recommendation 4 aggregates on climate finance securities, the WGSD has prepared DSD tables for the Recommendation 4 reporting templates, indicating both the relevant DSD keys for the Global DSD on Sector Accounts (NA_SEC) and the BIS MACRO DSD.