While Western European cities accounted for eight of the top 10 green finance centers in an April ranking by Z/Yen, the consultancy said a number of them may be displaced over the next two years by centers in North America and Asia. Green finance isn’t an exclusively European affair, though major hubs like New York and Hong Kong currently lag far behind. In a survey of more than 6,000 CFA Institute members published in May, 75% of respondents from France agreed that ESG-compliant products “will dominate the financial landscape within the next 10 years,” the highest of any country.

France also has sold the most green bonds in the world, with the U.K. Still, France was home to sustainable funds worth more than 140 billion euros ($167 billion) at the end of March, almost 40% more than was based in the U.K., according to data compiled by Morningstar Inc. capital employs more than twice as many people in financial services, its asset managers oversee more money than their peers in France, Germany and Switzerland combined, and the City is the leading global center for trading currencies and eurobonds. On most measures of financial clout, the French city is no match for London. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., also have thrown their weight behind Paris. JPMorgan added to London’s woes Tuesday when Dimon, the bank’s chief executive officer, announced that Paris will be the firm’s post-Brexit “trading hub” in the European Union and confirmed a plan to move several hundred traders to the French capital.

The stakes have been heightened by Brexit, which has sent international banks away from London. Just as New York dominates equities trading and Chicago is the home of options, the city that establishes itself as the world’s green finance hub is set to benefit from a surge in sustainable trading and investing. Paris and London are competing to dominate this burgeoning world of investment products tailored for environmental, social and governance factors, which Bloomberg Intelligence estimates could grow to more than $53 trillion of assets by 2025 - a sum that’s greater than the global market for corporate bonds.įor the City of London, this battle is “key to its future,” says Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford.

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