ABSTRACT

In late June 2002 a group of some 70 finance executives, government representatives and members of broader civil society cruised the Danube on a glorious evening blessed by a golden mid-summer dusk. The grand riverside buildings reflecting the historical mercantile wealth of Budapest and the floodlit marvel of the new Hungarian capital theatre were a superb setting for what was a concluding chapter in a 15-month-long global exploration of the role of the finance sector in supporting environmental management and sustainability. The Danube cruise came at the end of a two-day conference for financial institutions from countries with economies in transition.