Taking the climate crisis and the need for greenhouse gas emission reduction as a starting point, the following article illustrates the variety of areas for action to have an impact via the financial sector. Leading principles are future orientation, focus on the real economy and additionality. The leverage points described include ambitious planning, allocative financial market regulation, target-oriented deregulation, the establishment of pragmatic clarity, addressing fundamental uncertainty, and coordination and capacity building. All leverage points are illustrated with concrete examples of measures. The results presented in this article are based on the designoriented, participatory research project "change finance for resilience and sustainability".