Governments cannot do everything alone in the post-pandemic phase of the energy transition, supported by the investments of the Recovery Plans: the competition of the private world and the market is needed. This is the summary of the concept expressed by the Minister of the Economy Daniel Franco on the occasion of the B20-G20 Dialogue on Finance & Infrastructure "Accelerating sustainable and inclusive growth", one of the annual meetings of the B20, a community of multinationals from all over the world founded in 2010 and this year chaired by Italy, as well as the G20: “Now that the economy is recovering from the recession – said government minister Draghi – we can look with cautious optimism about the future. But governments cannot do everything alone, the contribution of private investors and the market is necessary".
“Green infrastructures – continued Franco, going into the merits of the theme of the meeting, i.e. sustainable and inclusive growth – increase growth, employment and make economies more resilient. They play an important role in increasing potential growth and making economies more resilient, counteracting climate change and have a strong impact on employment”. Also on the same line of thought as the Minister of Economy Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo and Chair of the B20's Finance & Infrastructure Task Force: “Governments need to create the framework and incentives for the private sector to adapt and act to impact the environment and society. For example development banks and governments should launch specialized impact funds to mobilize private savings towards impact investments”.
Messina confirmed the commitment of Intesa Sanpaolo (which today moreover won for the second consecutive year the Aipsa Spike Reply Award for cybersecurity) and also underlined that “sustainable growth needs growth engines such as easier access to debt and equity markets for SMEs, the promotion of open innovation ecosystems, digitization and process innovation in favor of global and integrated value chains”. In particular, the G20 "should promote the development of specific growth funds to support SMEs that may have exhausted their debt capacity during the pandemic crisis", said the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo in front of an audience of managers and institutional representatives from all over the world, including the president of BlackRock Robert S. Kapito, and the two Italian members of the advisory board of the B20, namely the president of Generali Gabriele Galateri di Genola and Pietro Salini, managing director of WeBuild.
President of the B20 is instead Emma Marcegaglia, she also intervened: “Sustainable finance and infrastructure are strategic factors for relaunching the recovery after the pandemic. It is essential that the G20 supports and accelerates financial inclusion, encourages impact investing and favors the transition towards a sustainable economy also through the adoption of globally harmonized sustainability reporting standards. Sustainable investment and infrastructure are more important than ever, but to fully exploit their potential, SMEs need to be given wider access to capital and support the development of new global value chains, while accelerating technological innovation in the system financial".
