CEE Sustainable Finance Summit 2024 & FT on the $9tn question: how to pay for the green transition

• In just two weeks, CEE Sustainable Finance Summit will start in Prague, gathering some of the best sustainable finance global experts and thought leaders from policymaking, academia, and practice. Why is this important? The CEE region is Europe is a key battleground for policy discussions about financing the transition, mainly due to the region's large investment needs, greater reliance on coal and gas for energy, presence of heavy industry, and thus more attention on transition needs. The Summit will showcase the progress made, and the key areas for improvement. You will have the opportunity to listen to the latest from DG FISMA, Martin ?polc , Vice President of EIB, Kyriacos Kakouris , Ota Melcher from Finance Ministry of Czechia, Nadia Humphreys from 彭博资讯 , Nathan Fabian from Principles for Responsible Investment , Jenny Bofinger-Schuster from International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) , Maxfield Weiss from CDP , Simon Mundy from Moral Money at FT, and many others!
• Financial Times has published a "Big Read" about "The $9tn question: how to pay for the green transition" - highlighting the fault lines of international discussions about climate finance, loss and damage funding, etc.

• CEE countries in dire need of good leadership - CEE Sustainable Finance Summit will also host the first edition of the CEE Sustainability Leadership Awards, which was created with the help of partners and has a set of prominent judges. NOMINATE your colleague or leadership figure on the Award website.

News stories

Bloomberg - Adaptation Is the World’s Unheralded Tool to Deal With Climate Change

Financial Times - BP shareholders expect oil group to scale back climate target

Financial Times - Shell sold millions of ‘phantom’ carbon credits: Subsidy scheme in Alberta allowed oil major to register carbon credits equivalent to twice the volume of CO? captured

ESG Today - EU Adopts Rules Requiring All New Buildings to Be Zero Emissions by 2030

ESG Today - Singapore Invests S$35 Million in Sustainable Finance Upskilling of Financial Sector

Eunews - Letta presents report on Single Market’s future to EU leaders: “Don’t put it in a drawer”

The Atlantic - What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?

Politico - Time for a European single market ‘with teeth’ to take on China, India, leaders told

Financial Times - ‘The whole institution is boiling’: Revolt inside a key climate target group

Portfolio Institutional - UKSIF’s James Alexander: “We have to make sure that any incoming government sees the magnitude of what they need to do.”

The Associated Press - Mining giant BHP Billiton makes $39 billion bid for Anglo American to expand copper operations

Green Central Banking - ECB report: bank climate commitments are not effective

European University Institute - How the EU can support carbon pricing at global level

Context Newsroom - The World Bank and IMF must put a value on clean air

ESG today - BlackRock, Temasek Raise $1.4 Billion for Decarbonization-Focused Growth Fund

ESG news - SEB’s Green Bond Report Explores Scaling Up Energy Transition Investments for a Just and Speedy Net-Zero Emission Goal

ESG today - Hong Kong Exchange to Require IFRS-based Climate Disclosure Beginning 2025

ESG investor - Korea to Issue ESG Disclosure Standards

Financial Times - The parcel war is about to begin

Green Central Banking - Why financial regulations need an update in the era of the energy transition

Real Economy Progress - The SBTi scandal raises bigger questions about climate non-profits

Accounting Times - Demand for sustainability consultants is too high, experts say

South China Morning Post SCMP - Hong Kong introduces green finance taxonomy to boost city’s fundraising credentials

Recommended reading & reports

UK TPT publishes final version of sector-specific guidance on climate transition plan disclosures, including for the financial sector by Linklaters

A new report by BIOFIN - Biodiversity Finance Initiative provides a perspective of the general institutional readiness of the South African financial sector in responding voluntarily, or mandatory, to the emerging nature risk narrative. Launch event recording is also available.

Science Based Targets Initiative shares updated information in Statement from the SBTi Board of Trustees on use of environmental attribute certificates, including but not limited to voluntary carbon markets, for abatement purposes limited to scope 3

Ethos has recently launched two new sustainable indices in collaboration with six, the first for Swiss equities and the second for bonds denominated in Swiss francs. Calculated by SIX, these indices comprise equities and bonds from companies/issuers that have an adequate extra-financial performance according to Ethos' ESG ratings.

GRESB published an article Building for the future: How certifications embrace change to remain relevant written by WiredScore

The TPT launches today its final set of transition plan resources to help businesses unlock finance for net zero. The TPT was established by HM Treasury and announced at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

2° Investing Initiative published New Open-Source Research Database on Retail Investing. This project is part of the?Retail Investing Research Program?at 2DII which is one of the largest publicly funded research projects about the supply, demand, distribution and policy side of the?sustainable?retail investment market in Europe.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has released the draft?Kenya Green Finance Taxonomy (KGFT) for public consultation. The draft KGFT is intended to serve as a tool to enable market participants classify whether particular economic activities are ‘green’ or environmentally sustainable.

Climate Bonds Initiative published a report on Sustainability-linked bonds: Building a High-Quality Market

UNEP FI has released a UNEP FI – PRB / ESRS Interoperability Package to help banks leverage the close alignment between the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), using the UNEP FI Holistic Impact Methodology. ?

CRREM published a report ?Green Governance: A holistic approach for feasible and successful Net Zero Transition Plans in the real estate industry“ discusses net-zero, sector challenges, transition from ESG 1.0 to ESG 3.0 and highlights holistic view, the report also offers an interesting set of infografice.

ECB published an article focused on ?Updating the Magna Carta of supervision: review of the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision“ discusses in detail topics such as climate-related financial risks and future-proof bank business models.

Green Finance Institute has released an article Assessing the Materiality of Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK which focuses on environmental damage and the UK economy while alnalyses an impact for UK GDP.

World Economic Forum shares multiple nature and climate news, leading with the title Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief

Debt Relief for Green and Inclusive Recovery publishes a Report: Defaulting on Development and Climate – Debt Sustainability and the Race for the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement

New Private Markets shares an article Abris begins quantifying ESG value creation

IFRS Foundation shared the news that The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published its digital sustainability taxonomy, helping investors analyse sustainability disclosures efficiently

PwC Luxembourg published The fifth edition of their EU ESG UCITS poster in an article EU ESG UCITS - Article 8 as a Middle Ground? This poster aims at helping stakeholders in the Asset and Wealth Management (AWM) industry keep track of the latest ESG developments in the European AWM landscape

As of the conclusion of 2023, the assets under management (AuM) for funds categorized under Articles 8 and 9 of the regulation have achieved a noteworthy total of EUR 6.2 trillion. This represents a significant growth, exceeding EUR 1 trillion compared to the year 2022, when the combined AuM of Article 8 and Article 9 funds amounted to EUR 5.1 trillion.

Looking ahead, their forecasts predict that by the year 2027, these figures will ascend to approximately EUR 9.4 trillion, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9%. This growth will signify that such assets constitute roughly 75% of the total European Union ESG Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) AuM, a substantial increase from 61.5% recorded in 2023.

Morningstar shares a report Climate Action 100+ Departures Put Proxy Voting in the Spotlight regarding the publicly disclosed voting results of 60 institutional investors for the CA100+ flagged shareholder resolutions in 2023. The report contains:

• A comprehensive analysis of the recent exits from the Climate Action 100+ initiative by five US asset managers
• Detailed review of proxy voting records, dispelling concerns over potential collusion by signatories
• In-depth examination of the support for climate-related resolutions among the exited or amended signatories?

AFME discloses its European ESG Finance quarterly data report for the first quarter of 2024. The aim of this report is to provide detailed data and analysis on the rapidly growing Sustainable Finance market in Europe

IFRS Foundation and EFRAG publish interoperability guidance, a material to illustrate the high level of alignment achieved between the International Sustainability Standards Board’s IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB Standards) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and how a company can apply both sets of standards, including detailed analysis of the alignment in climate-related disclosures

Podcasts & event recordings

What strategies can help decarbonize the construction industry is the title of a new episode of the Sustainability Matters podcast by EY

Green Element in the latest episodes of Sustainability Solved Podcast the hosts speak on Exploring Careers in Sustainability and The Funny Side of Climate Change

In the latest episode of the LSEG Sustainable Growth podcast by London Stock Exchange Group, Alison Taylor, Clinical Associate Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, discusses the four key changes needed for the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)

Národná banka Slovenska shared an event recording of the one-day special event Sustainability in practice: the road to Net Zero from March 2024

Online community insights

LinkedIn Post: Gabriella Lovas?comments on the new Thematic Report on biodversity disclosure initiatives with in-depth comparative analysis between ESRS and other initiatives

LinkedIn Post: Mohamed M. El-Haddad reshares ESG Materiality Cheat Sheet that outlines seven-phase process for ESG materiality

LinkedIn Post: Mohamed M. El-Haddad highlights key points from an infographic by Visual Capitalist - Carbon Streaming Channel titled "What is Irrecoverable Carbon?"

LinkedIn Post: Bill Baue comments on the most recent steps taken by SBTi

LinkedIn post: Tom Gosling looks at whether sustainable investing works, he and Harald Walkate explore this question in a three-part series

LinkedIn post: Mathieu Joubrel summarises key findings from the study by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) focusing on ESG bonds

LinkedIn post: Mohamed M. El-Haddad?shares an infographics focusing on economic impact of plastic waste, also covers cost of plastic waste as well as top 10 highest cost countries

LinkedIn Post: Pui D. shares an infographic on the topic of Carbon Pricing, Carbon Market and Carbon Taxes

LinkedIn Post: Paulyn Duman shares FREE Sustainability courses from the United Nations

LinkedIn Post: MSCI Carbon Markets comments on the possibility of having a carbon credit license revoked and the reasons for it

Events

May

• On 6 May, frogeex organizes an event with a focus on Sustainability of Arenas
• On 22 May, an interactive four-hour online (zoom) class Zero Waste for Businesses and Institutions Class is hosted by Zero Waste USA
• Between 22 and 23 May, SFIP hosts an online event Plasturgie & Environnement // Plastics Industry & Environment Congress 2024
• On 24 May, Green Truth Conference - Decarbonization Day is an online conference organized by TiiQu.

June

• On 5 June, which is a World Environment Day, TrybWorld organizes PWR Hour London 2024, one-of-a-kind immersive teambuilding challenge. A team-based competition for raising awareness about climate change meanwhile the energy produced during each session is 100% renewable
• Between 5 and 6 June, Digital Transformation Week North America 2024 will take place in Silicon Valley. One of the main topics is Digital transformation as a strategy for sustainability
• Between 11 and 12 June, Responsible Business Europe 2024 organized by Reuters Events Pharma takes place in?London,?UK. The event brings together senior business leaders, industry experts and regulatory bodies, providing market-leading solutions to the current challenges faced by a responsible business leader.
• On 12 June, ESG FinTech Summit will take place in London, featuring a range of in depth sessions on the nexus between finance and tech, with speakers such as Ella Chalfon (Medvedyeva) from Nomura, Juliette Faure from BlackRock , Alex Mollart from Tandem Bank and Nikki Bartlett Chartered FCIPD from CDP .

• Between 26 and 28 June, SPE Europe Energy Conference & Exhibition aims to provide a common platform across various disciplines, with a spotlight on the notable scientific and technical advancements in the sphere of energy transition
• On 27 June, an event called How to Achieve Net Zero and Retain Your Customers with AI and Automation is hosted by NeuCurrent.

July

• Between 11 and 18 July, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Live Online Course is hosted by Infocus International
• Between 2 and 3 July, Sustainable Aviation Futures hosts and online event with a focus on Carbon Markets for Aviation and Aviation Fuels

October

• Between 14 and 15 October, RICS will host its RICS Built Environment European Summit in Bilbao, Spain. International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC) is joining the event as a knowledge partner, and our CEO Linda Zeilina-Cross will speak at one of the sessions. More details and the programme are on the event website

• #sustainability #sustainablefinance #finance #climate #eutaxonomy #csrd #biodiversity