Green Public Financial Management

Policy makers are increasingly recognising the role that can be played by public finances in facilitating policy measures to mitigate environmental threats through the use of financial levers such as:

• taxation and subsidies such as emission trading schemes;
• targeted expenditure; and
• public procurement policies.

The course will review the current state of play and consider how specific financial levers can be used to support environmental policies, what approaches have been successful and how the potential for negative impacts of these policies (fraud, pushback from business and citizens, market distortions) can be recognised and addressed.

Public finances will also be essential in supporting adaptation to the consequences of environmental threats, for example through better flood protection, addressing food insecurity, improved infrastructure to cope with more intense storms etc. This course will consider the options for funding such adaptations through taxation, public private partnerships, international support etc.

Reporting information on how public sector entities are responding to environmental challenges is essential for accountability and decision making purpose. The course will therefore describe financial and non-financial environmental reporting frameworks used by public sector entities including those initially developed for the non-public sector (GRI, SASB, IIRC etc), together with relevant assurance frameworks.

Learning Objectives

The aim of the course is to provide participants with an understanding of:

• the overall current state of play in green public finance
• the considerations and approaches to developing budgets for sustainability
• how specific public finance levers (investment; procurement; fiscal) can be used to address sustainability
• reporting environment performances; and
• how to obtain assurance over environmental reports.

Who Should Attend

Anyone involved in public sector policy or management who wishes to gain a broad knowledge of how the management of public finance can be developed to address environmental sustainability.

Topics

• Current state of play and the Green Finance Cycle
• Budgeting for sustainability
• Green Finance
• Green Public Procurement
• Fiscal policies for climate action
• Negative impacts
• Funding sources
• Environmental accounting
• Reporting standards
• Assurance standards

Prerequisites

A background in public financial management and/or policy development and/or implementation will be useful including in allied fields e.g. procurement.