Managing What We Finance: Climate Risk and Accountability in Public Finance

​Public financial institutions shape energy development through loans, guarantees, and insurance, with financing decisions that can lock in fossil fuel dependence and emissions for decades. Focusing on South Korea and Japan, this session will examine gaps in how these institutions assess physical climate hazards and manage long-term emissions exposure. Project-level case studies and research on emissions enabled by public finance will highlight the climate and financial consequences of weak safeguards.

​The discussion will also explore how civil-society research and advocacy have advanced financed-emissions disclosure in Japan, and why greater transparency has yet to deliver a decisive shift away from fossil fuel financing. Participants will examine how stronger risk assessments, mandatory disclosure, binding emissions-reduction targets, sectoral limits, fossil fuel financing restrictions, and public oversight can turn climate commitments into financing decisions aligned with the 1.5°C goal.