Britain appoints Alok Sharma to chair Transition Finance Council
Baku, January 23, AZERTAC
The UK Government and City of London Corporation on 23 January announced the appointment of the Rt Hon Lord Alok Sharma KCMG as Chair of the Transition Finance Council and Irem Yerdelen, Lead Member for Sustainable Finance, as Deputy Chair, according to the City of London Corporation.
Co-launched by the UK Government and the City of London Corporation, the Transition Finance Council aims to leverage the UK’s existing strengths to become the best market in the world to raise and deploy high-integrity transition finance - the financial products and services that facilitate an economy-wide transition to net zero.
The Transition Finance Council was one of the key recommendations of the Transition Finance Market Review, published in October 2024, and will include representation from the financial and professional services sectors, real economy, government, regulators, standard setters, and civil society.
The Council will play a crucial role in positioning the UK as the global leader in transition finance and will have three key functions: Driving forward implementation of the Transition Finance Market Review’s recommendations; Supporting transition finance capacity building and engagement with UK and international stakeholders; and Convening working groups to advance priority areas aligned with the Council's objectives.
“Growth is the number one mission of this government, and we are committed to prioritising sustainable economic growth that will accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero.
“We want to lead the world in sustainable finance by making the UK a global hub for green and transition finance, promoting investment flows into green industries to create jobs and support the global transition to a sustainable future.
“At Mansion House, I co-launched the Transition Finance Council, which will play a pivotal role in driving this ambition forward and I look forward to working with the newly appointed Chair Lord Alok Sharma who brings a wealth of experience to the role.”
Lord Sharma served in a range of UK government ministerial roles prior his appointment as Secretary of State for International Development in 2019 and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2020. He also served from 2020 to 2022 as President Designate, and subsequently as President, of COP26 the UN Climate Conference held in Glasgow. In this role, he led the UK’s work in bringing together the world to tackle climate change and getting almost 200 countries to sign up to the historic Glasgow Climate Pact which included commitments on increasing finance.
Councillor Irem Yerdelen served as the member of TFMR Expert Group and provides ongoing leadership in City Corporation’s ambitious sustainable finance goals. She is a market leader in advising organisations to operationalise sustainability imperatives and accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy.
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