Banks Powering a Livable Planet
This year’s observance of the International Day of Banks highlights the essential role of multilateral development banks, international development banks and domestic banking systems in advancing sustainable development, supporting climate action and improving standards of living.
The 2025 theme draws its rationale from three interconnected imperatives: financing a livable planet, closing the SDG financing gap and strengthening resilient and inclusive finance. Banks are central to aligning financial flows with global climate commitments, addressing structural financing shortfalls that hinder progress in developing countries and expanding access to affordable, responsible financial services for vulnerable communities. By integrating environmental risks, supporting long-term investment and promoting inclusive digital finance, banking institutions can help reshape development pathways and uphold the promise of the 2030 Agenda.
The overall objective of this year’s observance is to spotlight and reinforce the transformative role of banks in enabling sustainable development. The United Nations calls on governments, international financial institutions, regulators, commercial banks and civil society to work together to scale up long-term, SDG-aligned financing and strengthen financial systems that work for both people and planet. Through global and national dialogues, knowledge sharing and inclusive partnerships, the 2025 observance aims to galvanize concrete action that empowers banking systems to drive sustainable, resilient and inclusive development worldwide.
#DayOfBanks
Key Messages
- Banks are development actors. Banks at all levels are not only intermediaries of capital; they are central to shaping development pathways and must align their business models with the SDGs and climate objectives.
- Closing the SDG financing gap is possible. With coherent policies, risk-sharing instruments, and strong partnerships, banks can mobilize and channel finance at scale for sustainable development and a just, green transition.
- Resilience and inclusion go hand in hand. Financial systems are more stable and resilient when they are inclusive, diverse and anchored in the real economy, with safeguards for people and planet.
- Digitalization is a powerful enabler. Digital financial services can be a powerful driver of inclusion and efficiency, provided that risks to stability, integrity, data protection and consumer rights are effectively managed.
- Global solidarity is essential. International financial institutions, advanced economies and global capital markets have a responsibility to support developing countries in securing affordable, long-term finance for sustainable development.
Background
On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/245, which designated 4 December as the International Day of Banks in recognition of the significant potential of multilateral development banks and other international development banks in financing sustainable development and providing know-how; and also in recognition of the vital role of the banking systems in Member States in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living.
In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals reaffirming its commitment to fully implementing them by 2030. Eradicating poverty in all its forms remains the greatest global challenge and a prerequisite for sustainable development. The SDGs aim for balanced economic, social and environmental progress, building on the Millennium Development Goals and addressing unfinished gaps.
‘‘Globalization and technological change have contributed to reducing extreme poverty at the global level, but uneven distribution of the benefits has left many behind and has undermined support for the global architecture.’’
—Note by the Secretary-General (E/FFDF/2019/2)
The global economy faces rising risks, from geopolitical tensions and trade disputes to climate impacts, all of which threaten growth, stability and the SDGs. Systemic weaknesses—volatile capital flows, global imbalances, unsustainable debt, rising corporate concentration and wage compression—exacerbate vulnerabilities. Rapid technological change can both help and heighten systemic risks.
The Addis Ababa Action Agenda emphasized nationally owned sustainable development strategies supported by integrated financing frameworks. Although many countries have renewed their strategies in response to the SDGs, most lack concrete financing plans. Improving coherence and inclusivity in global economic governance remains essential.
Shifts in the international monetary system may further increase volatility, underscoring the need for stronger international cooperation and an adequately resourced global financial safety net. Currently, currency risk is often borne by developing countries least able to manage it.
Policy coherence across financial, social and environmental spheres is crucial. While the impact of financial regulation on sustainable investment is increasingly understood, the effects of social and environmental risks on creditworthiness are less clear. Regulations and sustainability measures must align to create a financial system that supports long-term development.
National development banks can play a key role in financing SDG-related investments, especially in sectors underserved by commercial banks. When aligned with the SDGs and integrated financing frameworks, and when collaborating with multilateral banks, they can expand sustainable infrastructure, energy, agriculture, innovation and MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) financing, and act countercyclically during crises. They should be supported to scale these contributions.
Financing policies, however, must adapt to a rapidly changing global landscape. To address rising inequality—including gender inequality—countries must update labour, social protection, fiscal, competition, trade and financial policies to match new economic realities such as digitization, shifting wage shares and growing vulnerabilities.
The Principles for Responsible Banking
The Principles provide the framework for a sustainable banking system and help the industry to demonstrate how it makes a positive contribution to society. They embed sustainability at the strategic, portfolio and transactional levels, and across all business areas. In the year since the launch of the framework, the signatories to the Principles for Responsible Banking grew from 130 to more than 190 banks representing more than a third of the global banking industry and around 1.6 billion customers worldwide. To celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of the Principles for Responsible Banking, signatories and civil society have shared their thoughts and experiences one year on!
Risks to sustainable development
- World economic growth remains steady at around 3 percent, but has likely peaked;
- More than half a trillion dollars worth of goods are subject to trade restrictions – 7 times more than in the previous reporting period;
- Debt risks are rising: a number of countries, including around 30 least developed and other vulnerable countries, are either already in or at high risk of debt distress, hampering their ability to invest in the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Several countries have experienced significant capital outflows, with aggregate net outflows of over $200 billion from developing countries expected for 2018;
- Inequality has risen in countries home to most people in the world, and global growth in real wages is only 1.8 percent, the lowest since 2008;
- Climate change continues apace, with greenhouse gas emissions having increased by 1.3 percent in 2017, with dire consequences for communities worldwide.
Reform of the global financial architecture
- The crisis affecting the multilateral trading system is also an opportunity to revamp it and make it fit for sustainable development;
- Challenges in sovereign debt restructuring have sensitized the international community to gaps in the existing architecture;
- Increasing vulnerabilities have underscored the importance of strengthening the global financial safety net;
- The digitization of the economy has fuelled the debate about the design of the international tax system;
- Growing market concentration has underscored the need to better monitor this trend and manage its socioeconomic implications.
