Key developments across global finance highlight shifts in climate investment strategies, the evolution of AI in banking, and growing disparities in tech sector valuations. n nAt recent G20 and COP30 summits, leaders advanced frameworks to scale blended finance—combining public and private capital to reduce risks in climate-related projects. Two major initiatives were launched in November: the Belém Package at COP30 and the Johannesburg Declaration at the G20. n nThe Belém Package introduced the FINI initiative, aiming to make National Adaptation Plans financially viable, with a goal of building a $1 trillion pipeline of projects focused on resilient infrastructure and water systems by 2028. n nThe Johannesburg Declaration endorsed “Mission 300,” a financing mechanism to connect 300 million people to electricity via private microgrids. It also established a Critical Minerals Framework promoting transparent supply chains through commercial partnerships and supported risk management tools like parametric insurance and regional risk pools. n nThese efforts align with recommendations from a World Economic Forum white paper, From Risk to Reward: Unlocking Private Capital for Climate and Growth, which emphasizes coordinated action across the investment chain. As the report notes, “there’s no single solution—progress requires simultaneous improvements from macroeconomic stability to project readiness.” n nEnergy transition priorities are shifting from adding renewable capacity to strengthening system infrastructure. Members of the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA) increased their annual investment commitments by over 25% to nearly $150 billion, with an estimated $1.24 allocated to grid and storage for every dollar spent on new renewable generation. n nThis reflects a growing consensus that rising electricity demand requires robust grid reinforcement, storage solutions, digital integration, and demand-side management. System flexibility is now a top priority, enabling secure and resilient power expansion. For financial institutions, this opens avenues to invest in transmission, distribution, storage, and balancing technologies—offering stable, often regulated returns while supporting high-growth areas and protecting existing energy assets. n nTo accelerate capital flow into modern power systems, the World Economic Forum has launched a new finance workstream under its Future of Power Systems initiative, bringing together financial institutions, energy stakeholders, and policymakers to identify necessary regulatory and investment frameworks. n nCOP30 also advanced climate-resilient agriculture, with nine countries backing Brazil’s RAIZ accelerator to restore degraded farmland and promote adaptive farming. Nature-based adaptation projects highlighted water security, ecosystem restoration, and community resilience, underscoring food, nature, and land systems as central to climate adaptation. n nThese efforts complement Forum publications such as Putting Food on the Balance Sheet, which outlines financing mechanisms for food system transformation, and Building a Pipeline of 50 Investible Opportunities for a Nature-Positive Economy, which identifies investment prospects across sectors including agriculture, mining, and technology. A full report is expected early next year. n nIn banking, generative AI is transitioning from experimental use to enterprise deployment, paving the way for agentic AI—autonomous systems capable of reasoning, decision-making, and action. n nAccording to the Capgemini World Cloud Report, 33% of banks are developing proprietary AI agents internally, with 10% already operational. Early applications include automated lending and fraud detection. The report also notes that 48% of financial institutions are creating new roles to oversee these agents. n nIndia, home to numerous Global Capability Centers (GCCs), is at the forefront. The EY India GCC Pulse Survey 2025 reveals that 58% of GCCs are investing in agentic AI, with 29% preparing to scale within a year. Focus areas include customer service (65%), finance (53%), and operations (49%), covering tasks like dispute resolution, reconciliation, and loan processing. n nThe survey also finds that 81% of GCCs are retraining staff for agentic workflows, signaling a shift toward large-scale implementation. n nHowever, governance remains a challenge. A joint World Economic Forum and Capgemini report, AI Agents in Action: Foundations for Evaluation and Governance, warns that as agents gain authority to execute transactions—such as underwriting loans or freezing assets—risk controls must evolve. The report advocates for a “progressive governance” model, where human oversight increases with the agent’s financial authority. n nElsewhere, analysts note a widening gap between valuation and earnings in U.S. tech. While the sector represents about 31% of the S&P 500’s market value, it accounted for only 20.8% of earnings in Q3, raising concerns about vulnerability to earnings misses. n nThe European Central Bank has advised eurozone banks with substantial dollar operations to bolster liquidity and capital buffers amid rising dollar volatility, citing risks from U.S. policy shifts. n nMeanwhile, companies holding bitcoin are selling reserves to stabilize declining stock prices, contributing to a $77 billion market decline amid a $1 trillion crypto downturn, according to the Financial Times. n nIn the UK, the finance minister announced tax measures expected to raise over £26 billion annually by 2029/30, including frozen income-tax thresholds, higher dividend taxes, and new levies on high-value homes and electric vehicles. The Office for Budget Responsibility revised the 2026 growth forecast down from 1.9% to 1.4%. n nJapan has initiated a review of subsidies and tax incentives following stimulus measures that sparked investor concerns about fiscal discipline, affecting the yen and government bond markets. n
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Discover the latest must-read finance stories
Catch up on the key stories and developments shaping the financial world. n nTop stories: Summits push for private finance; Banking enters the ‘agentic era ‘; Big tech: High value, lower profits. n nFor more on the World Economic Forum ‘s work in finance, visit the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems. n n1. COP30 & G20: The systemic scaling of blended finance begins n
Negotiators at the G20 and COP30 summits have taken significant steps to operationalize ‘blended finance ‘ structures, which combine public and private funds to de-risk climate investments. n
In a shift from treaty-based pledges to structured financing approaches, two major frameworks were launched in November to address investment risks in emerging-market climate projects: n
The Belém Package (COP30): Adopted on 22 November, this agreement launched the FINI (Fostering Investible National Implementation) initiative. The facility is designed to make National Adaptation Plans investible, targeting a $1 trillion project pipeline by 2028 for resilient infrastructure and water systems. n
The Johannesburg Declaration (G20): Signed on 23 November, leaders endorsed “Mission 300”, a finance vehicle to connect 300 million people to electricity using private-sector microgrids. The declaration also established a Critical Minerals Framework to secure transparent supply chains through commercial partnerships rather than state aid. Moreover, the G20 backed pre-arranged risk tools such as parametric insurance and regional risk pools to help countries manage climate-related shocks.. n
The mechanisms outlined above align with the technical blueprint outlined in a recent World Economic Forum white paper, From Risk to Reward: Unlocking Private Capital for Climate and Growth, which detailed specific risk-sharing tools required to make such projects commercially viable. But as white paper notes, “there’s no silver bullet … It’s about moving the whole supply chain, from macro stability to project preparation, all at once”. n
Shifting to power systems and infrastructure n
The focus for the energy transition is increasingly shifting from simply adding renewable megawatts toward financing the system and backbone infrastructure that make those megawatts useful. At COP30, members of the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA) raised their annual energy transition investment commitments by over 25% to nearly $150 billion, while signalling a major pivot toward grid infrastructure with an estimated $1.24 to be invested in grids and storage for every dollar spent on new renewable generation. n
There is growing global recognition that rising electricity demand cannot be met without substantial grid reinforcement, storage, digitalisation and demand-side response. As a result, system flexibility is moving to the top of the energy transition agenda, emerging as the critical enabling layer that allows the power system to expand while maintaining security and resilience. For financial institutions, this shift opens up a significant opportunity: investing in transmission and distribution networks, storage, grid flexibility assets, and system-balancing technologies not only provides access to relatively stable, often regulated revenue streams, but also offers exposure to high-growth segments of the energy system while safeguarding the value of existing generation portfolios. n
To help unlock this opportunity, the World Economic Forum has launched a new finance workstream under the Future of Power Systems initiative. It will bring together a community of financial institutions, power sector stakeholders and key policymakers through dedicated regional tracks to identify the investment frameworks and regulatory conditions needed to scale capital towards modern, flexible power systems. n
COP30 advances action on climate-resilient agriculture n
Nine countries endorsed Brazil’s new RAIZ accelerator, a programme launched with UN support to scale the restoration of degraded farmland and promote climate-resilient agricultural systems. The summit also showcased a series of nature-based adaptation initiatives, with countries and partners emphasizing the need to improve water security, restore ecosystems and support communities affected by land degradation. Together, these developments reflect a growing international focus on food, nature and land systems as central pillars of climate adaptation. n
These developments align closely with recent World Economic Forum work on financing nature and food systems. A Forum briefing paper, Putting Food on the Balance Sheet: Financing Strategies to Scale Investment in Food Systems Transformation, outlines financing and risk-sharing mechanisms needed to make investments in food system transformation commercially viable. In parallel, a Forum Stories article, Building a Pipeline of 50 Investible Opportunities for a Nature-Positive Economy, highlights emerging investment opportunities across 12 critical sectors — from agriculture and food to mining, energy and technology — based on a systematic analysis of nature-positive business models, with a full report to be published early next year. n
2. Beyond GenAI: Autonomous agents set to transform banking operations n
Recent surveys reveal how generative AI has matured from experimentation to enterprise scale, paving the way for agentic AI, which are autonomous systems capable of independently reasoning, deciding and acting. n
Global adoption: The Capgemini World Cloud Report finds that 33% of banks are developing proprietary AI agents in-house (10% currently operational), with early adopters deploying systems for automated lending and financial crime detection. It adds that “48% of financial institutions are creating new roles for employees to supervise agents”. n
India as a hub: With a major ecosystem of Global Capability Centers (GCCs) India is leading the shift. The EY India GCC Pulse Survey 2025 shows that 58% of GCCs are investing in agentic AI, with another 29% preparing to scale within a year. n
For banks leveraging these hubs, the survey found that investment is concentrating on high-value, complex workflows such as customer service (65%), finance (53%) and operations (49%). Tasks include autonomous dispute resolution, automated reconciliation and straight-through loan processing. n
The EY survey also finds that 81% of GCCs are retraining teams specifically for agentic workflows, moving beyond experimental pilots towards enterprise-scale deployment. n
The governance gap: This rapid adoption necessitates a fundamental rethink of risk management, according to a new World Economic Forum and Capgemini report, which warns that controls must evolve as agents move from passive analysis to active execution. n
The report, AI Agents in Action: Foundations for Evaluation and Governance, highlights the risks of granting agents “transactional authority” – such as autonomously underwriting loans, freezing assets for fraud prevention or negotiating settlements via the new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). It argues that for these high-stakes operations, banks must adopt a “progressive governance” model, where human oversight scales in direct proportion to the agent’s ability to move funds. n
3. More finance news to know n
Big US tech stocks are taking up more of the market’s value even as their share of overall earnings declines, Reuters reports. Tech now accounts for about 31% of the S&P 500’s market value but only 20.8% of its earnings in Q3, creating a growing gap between price and profits that analysts say could leave the sector – and the wider market – more sensitive to earnings disappointments. n
The European Central Bank has urged eurozone banks with significant US dollar operations to strengthen liquidity and capital buffers in response to rising dollar volatility. Officials highlighted risks from US policy and noted that even major lenders could face strains in dollar markets. n
Firms hoarding bitcoin are offloading holdings to support falling share prices, reports the Financial Times, as a $1 trillion crypto rout wipes $77 billion off the market. Analysts warn that a vicious cycle is emerging, with falling crypto prices fuelling a rush to sell. n
Britain’s finance minister has outlined a series of tax rises expected to raise more than £26 billion a year by 2029/30, including freezes to income-tax thresholds, higher dividend taxes and new charges on high-value homes and electric vehicles, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. It downgraded the country ‘s 2026 economic outlook from 1.9% to 1.4%. n
Tokyo has launched a review of subsidies and tax breaks after fresh stimulus raised investor concerns over fiscal discipline, contributing to pressure on the yen and Japanese government bonds. n
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