Here you can find short summaries of previous Futur of Fair Finance events.

Mannheim 2018

Motto: What do the current European initiatives for a more ecologically and socially oriented financial economy mean for development in our region?

Key issue: The European Commission’s Action Plan “Financing Sustainable Growth” and its significance for stakeholders in the Rhine-Neckar region.

Topic of the discussion panel: An expert panel discussed the EU Commission’s action plan and its significance for the regions. The panelists agreed that the EU Commission’s plans represent an important step towards more sustainable development. For example, a uniform “sustainability taxonomy” is to be introduced that defines what is meant by sustainable economic activity throughout Europe.

Result/conclusion: As a result, it has become clear that regional companies and investors are in demand to take up the important impulses at EU level in order to channel more financial resources into ecologically and socially sensible developments.

Photo: Christoph Bastert

Dortmund 2019

Key issue: Climate protection, affordable housing, environmentally friendly transport, sustainable agriculture: all socially important issues are linked to financial flows and can thus be influenced.

Topic of discussion: What opportunities and risks do the planned new regulations bring for development?

Result/conclusion: It was emphasised that a focus on environmental aspects is not sufficient for real sustainability. And there is still a lot to do to move from the planned greater transparency in financial products to actually having more impact in the real economy. This would require, among other things, that all financial products, not just the “sustainable” ones, are subjected to a sustainability assessment according to the planned EU criteria.

Special feature: The Future of Fair Finance in Dortmund took place as a prelude to Germany’s largest sustainability fair, Fair Friends.

Photo: Nick Bosch

Mannheim 2019

Motto: Prerequisite for the Social Economy Roadmap of the City of Mannheim

Key issue: The focus was on how the financial world can promote and support socio-ecological development more strongly than before.

Topic of discussion: A critical look at the opportunities and risks of the new regulations. How does this new framework affect the actors in the region?

Result/conclusion: Overall, significantly more opportunities were seen from all perspectives. In particular, greater standardisation would reduce uncertainties and greenwashing opportunities in the sustainable finance market, which would be very helpful. Risks were seen more outside the regulation of sustainable finance, e.g. in a global financial system that is not yet sufficiently stable.

Photo: Lilly Leirich

Mannheim 2021

Key issue:  Financing affordable housing and climate protection. Innovative financing models in Europe were presented that reconcile climate protection in residential buildings and affordable housing.

Topic of discussion: A panel discussion entitled “Lessons Learned and New Shores with Social Economy” took place at the end.

Result/conclusion: In the panel discussion, the possibilities and opportunities already highlighted were illuminated from the different perspectives of the discussants and further approaches of the institutions represented were presented and compared. In the course of the event, new ideas for networking and exchange kept coming up, which could be deepened in the digital format in the best possible way.

Special feature: Side event of the European Social Economy Summit 2021 in Mannheim, online, with simultaneous translation.

Photo: Lilly Leirich

Mannheim 2022

Motto: Local Sustainable Finance Action Plans

Key issue: The fourth Future of Fair Finance in Mannheim showed how municipalities can use the topic of sustainable finance for their own sustainable development through local action plans. Results from model cities from the pilot project “turnaround money” were presented: Mannheim, Munich (Germany), Križevci (Croatia) and the Flemish Region (Belgium).

Topic of discussion: In a subsequent panel discussion, the organisers discussed the opportunities of these new ideas for their cities with representatives of these four pilot cities.

Result/conclusion: Overall, it was welcomed that the project and the ideas of the action plans can help the topic gain more attention in the cities. In particular, the positive aspects of better networking of the relevant actors in the cities were highlighted. The exchange on the topic of “coordination for the topic of sustainable finance” showed that different paths must be taken here depending on the size and starting situation of the city.

Photo: Juliane Schmitt