The Digital Sandbox Sustainability Cohort

In 2021 the City Corporation and Financial Conduct Authority launched a second phase of the Digital Sandbox which centred around a sustainability cohort. This cohort built on learnings from the Digital Sandbox Pilot, and was targeted at solutions to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy.

Sharing information and lessons learnt from the work on the Digital Sandbox is important to driving forward innovation in other sectors and markets. As a result, the City Corporation and FCA are pleased to share two reports from the sustainability cohort which provide an insight into the work undertaken as well as the impact that the cohort had on innovation.

Identifying sustainability use cases

An essential goal of the Digital Sandbox is to support tech activity that meets industry needs. To determine these needs and set the framework for the sustainability cohort, three themes were explored across the financial services ecosystem to identify common challenges and the potential roles of tech and data. These include ESG data and disclosures, voluntary carbon markets, and sustainable debt instruments.

This report outlines the methodology the City Corporation used to identify use cases and select the most relevant for this project. It also shares wider insights gained during industry engagement.

Sustainability cohort evaluation

Following the completion of the sustainability cohort, the City Corporation and FCA conducted an evaluation process to assess the success of the cohort and gather feedback from participants and on the project more broadly. The evaluation paper which has been published gives an overview of the sustainability cohort and discusses the key lessons learned. It is hoped that this will help inform the future of the Digital Sandbox whilst also providing useful insights for others who are advancing similar innovation projects.

Read more about the evaluation paper 'Supporting innovation in ESG data and disclosures – the digital sandbox'.