Ignazio Visco, governor of the Bank of Italy, during the presentation of the G20 TechSprint 2021, an international competition organized by the institute and the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements, explained: “The financial system is starting to support the transition towards a greener economy and investment funds are gradually redirecting their portfolios to more sustainable companies that have also proven to be more profitable and resilient. Initiatives like this are essential to encourage brilliant people, and often young people as well as the most ambitious and capable companies, to take up a challenge that is global and very complex ”. The G20 TechSprint 2021 is a competition that aims to bring to the surface new technologies capable of responding to some of the most pressing challenges in the field of green and sustainable finance. It is a rapidly growing sector that pushes capital towards economic projects to protect the environment and sustainable development: the European Union has announced that it will launch green bonds worth 225 billion euros within the first loans of the Recovery Plan, in the US the presidency of Joe Biden, after a Trump administration hostile to environmental investments, aims to re-enter the Paris climate agreement and bring the US towards zero emissions (carbon-neutral) by 2050. Also in China, President Xi Jinping announced his country’s goal of becoming carbon neutral before 2060 while issuing $ 117 billion in green bonds, second after the US by volume of investment. explained the Minister of Economy Daniele Franco “it is a precondition for stable prosperity. In our program there is a specific focus on sustainable finance. The issue of climate change can be tackled with widespread innovation and work on a global scale ”. This is why the challenge of TechSprint 2021 and the Italian presidency of the G20 are aimed at providing answers to the three main problems to be solved in the field of environmental finance which also constitute the three sections of the award: data collection, verification and sharing; analysis and assessment of physical risks related to the climate; link between projects and investors. G20 TechSprint 2021, with a total competition amount of 360 thousand euros, will reward the three teams with the best ideas that will win 50 thousand euros each, 10 thousand will go to the finalists. Registrations are open until May 31st, on June 14th the short list of finalists will be announced who will have until September 1st to present the prototype of the solution. The winners in October. Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, thus concludes the clarifications regarding the importance of competition: “The use of new technologies and digital solutions can significantly contribute to achieving sustainability objectives in financial products and services and green finance an integral part of the daily life of people and businesses. Green fintech is growing rapidly and is becoming a driving force for creating a more environmentally friendly financial system. There are several ways in which fintech and green finance can interact. For example, the use of artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms can help measure the sustainability and social impact of investments. In addition, fintech solutions that apply Big Data analytics can help financial firms cope with the large amount of information related to ESG factors and make decisions that direct capital flows to more sustainable assets and projects. Finally, the digitization of distribution channels and the spread of platforms can help investors access green and sustainable investment products, while artificial intelligence can facilitate the offer of personalized financial services “.
