PIDG CEO Philippe Valahu at the 2020 Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference, Paris

PIDG CEO Philippe Valahu has been speaking at the plenary session of the 2020 Private Finance for Sustainable Development conference at the OECD in Paris.

In the session,  ‘Half a decade of private finance for the SDGs – why are we off track?’ Philippe  asks if the sense of urgency is ‘real’ or is it ‘just talk’ when the discourse turns to the ‘billions to trillions’ agenda? He goes on to explain that, “mobilisation of trillions [of dollars] is a frustrating term, because rarely is it embedded in discourse as referring to [mobilising] domestic capital.  PIDG company GuarantCo has supported Acorn Holdings dual-listing of a green infrastructure bond in Nairobi and London for building much needed sustainable student housing, as there is real appetite for this asset class. It is our guarantees that allowed for credit enhancement and a higher credit rating. Acorn didn’t wait for foreign solutions, shunning the existing aid model, and found a home-grown solution which also meets the sustainability aspects of their investments.” 

You can follow the conference live on Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th January here