Sustainable Finance Observatory at a glance

Sustainable Finance Observatory is an internationally recognized independent nonprofit think tank focusing on mobilising private finance for a sustainable transition. Indeed, aligning private capital flows with the climate and biodiversity goals is a precondition to achieve the implementation of Global agendas. 

Since 2025, Sustainable Finance Observatory is the result of a merger between the “Observatoire de la finance durable” set up by the French Economy and Finance Minister (2019), and the international think tank 2° Investing Initiative – 2DII (2012). 

Our mission is to support changes in financial practices among economic actors, helping them to align with the Paris Agreement goals and driving their impact toward a sustainable societal model. The think tank manages and analyses data, produces analysis, and provides expertise and advice on the financial sector and green finance. It builds its work on a pragmatic approach based on studies, tools, and methodologies that directly benefit financial institutions, regulators, and economic actors for high impact. Sustainable Finance Observatory focuses its activities including program, studies, research, capacity building, expertise, coordination of coalitions, data analysis on three core pillars: Transparency and Data, Research, and Advocacy. 

Over the last 13 years, the think tank has achieved significant impact through fostering regulatory reforms and new standards, enhancing transparency, financial management and supporting shifting private investments toward sustainability through data collection, as well as through deploying analysis and monitoring of ESG disclosures. It has developed a robust workstream on impact investment.

Sustainable Finance Observatory builds on the expertise of a Scientific Committee gathering more than 50 international sustainable finance researchers and experts who contribute to its work. 

Among the fields covered by the think tank are: 

Transparency, data, and regulatory analysis – Since 2020, Sustainable Finance Observatory has been monitoring ESG commitments of the Paris Financial Center stakeholders (banks, insurance companies, asset managers etc.). It releases official reports on financial disclosure at the French and European levels, such as the analysis of “net-zero” transition plans of European signatories of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance NZBA. It co-led, together with ADEME, the Climate Transparency Hub Report analysing 29 LEC reports from 919 French financial institutions related to their mandatory ESG disclosures.

Retail Investing – Sustainable Finance Observatory works on reallocating individual savings to finance the low-carbon transition by helping financial institutions improve the sustainability of their products and devising policy recommendations. This stream covers 15,500 European funds (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom).

Impact Programme – Sustainable Finance Observatory has conducted pioneering work on ways that financial institutions can contribute to real-world emissions reductions beyond climate alignment.  It has produced methodological tools, such as an impact management system, as well as an international standard for assessing and reporting green finance activities (ISO 14097). It currently works on Artificial Intelligence solutions for climate impact. 

Adaptation and Biodiversity Finance – Sustainable Finance Observatory supports research and policy work on developing a Nature-Positive Economy, as well as the development of financial models for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in cities. 

Energy Efficiency in Buildings – Sustainable Finance Observatory supports mass investment in energy-efficient building renovation through removing financial barriers within the overall ecosystem involving public administrations, propriety owners, banks, and non-financial private actors, both for residential and commercial buildings. 

Emerging Market Programme – Sustainable Finance Observatory supports financial institutions in developing and emerging markets to align their activities with the goals of the Paris agreement. It also conducts global work on climate alignment in public development banks.  

Transition Plans – Sustainable Finance Observatory assists financial institutions in monitoring and analyzing their transition plans.  

Net-Zero Donut – The Net-Zero Donut is an exclusive analytical framework for monitoring and assessing the climate strategies of financial institutions.

PACTA – The Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA) is a free, open-source methodology and tool, which measures financial portfolios’ alignment with various climate scenarios consistent with the Paris Agreement.

MyFairMoney – MyFairMoney is a free, independent, non-profit platform helping retail investors to take sustainability into account and invest in line with their values.

Impact Potential Assessment Framework (IPAF) – The IPAF is a science-based framework to assess the impact potential of financial products.

FiRéno+ – The project aims to increase investment in energy-efficient building renovation and the integration of renewable energies in mainland France and the French overseas territories. The project seeks to overcome the barriers to financing energy-efficient renovations and small-scale integrated renewables (SSIR), as well as the challenges of a lack of collaboration between the players in the sector (public authorities and agencies, the non-financial private sector, the financial sector, homeowners). By fostering coordinated actions and targeted investments, it seeks to accelerate the energy transition in buildings through the development of new financing solutions and capacity-building based on turnkey proposals.

GoNature Positive! – This 4-year EU-funded project delivers a clear definition and conceptual framework for a Nature-Positive Economy (NPE), a roadmap proposing policy and governance pathways towards an NPE, blueprints for ground-breaking solutions to stubborn roadblocks, and demonstrations of what an NPE could look like on the ground.

RISE-IN – Resilient Investment for Sustainable Environments (RISE-IN). This a 5-year EUR 9 million EU funded project, focuses on designing new bankable financing solutions for adaptation and resilience to climate change. It supports assessing climate-resilient solutions, such as Nature-Based solutions in cities, ecosystem-based approaches, and physical measures, while mapping their co-benefits and identifying funding opportunities. The evaluation of the solutions incorporates 3 climate risk models to mitigate uncertainty around extreme events, water run-off, and capital loss. These solutions will be implemented in pilot cities.

Establishing a Transition Management System for the Energy Sector for WWF Singapore – This Guidance is designed to support ASEAN banks and asset managers to increase their transition finance actions and ensure these transition finance actions effectively contribute to the net zero transition of the ASEAN economy by 2050.

Sustainable Finance Observatory works closely with a multitude of partners and funders, whose contributions are essential to the realization of our projects. Here are some of our key partners: