What next for sustainability in finance?

Dear reader,

Welcome to Sustainability in Finance, ISFC's brand new biweekly newsletter on all things sustainable finance. Put together by our team of professionals, the idea of the newsletter is to help you stay informed on the key topics without time-consuming monitoring of news and publications. Think of it as a one-stop shop for updates on policy, regulatory, and practice developments.

We will cover news from Central and Eastern Europe, from the wider European region, and from around the world.

Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on upcoming editions!

Best regards,

The ISFC team

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Future of sustainability standards: alignment and convergence, or multiplication and divergence?

"The alphabet soup of green standards needs a new recipe" - wrote the Financial Times just over 2 years ago, referring to the blend of GRI, SASB, and TCFD reporting standards. The Economist recently reached a similar verdict. The number of acronyms has only grown, with the EU's newly adopted ESRS, part of CSRD, developed by EFRAG, in alignment with IFRS and ISSB, replacing the already existing NFRD.

If you find yourself drowning in this soup, we highly recommend Maud Gaudry 's ( 玛泽咨询 ) conversation with Nadia Humphreys ( 彭博资讯 ), Eila Kreivi ( European Investment Bank (EIB) ), Ingmar Juergens ( Climate & Company ), and her brilliant overview of the international legislative reporting standards. You can listen to the discussion on ISFC's latest podcast episode, Sustainability in Finance:

Or if you are more of the visual type, watch a recording of the panel discussion here:

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Recommended readings on ESG reporting

Sustainability challenges for corporates: For those wishing to learn more about sustainability standards from an academic point of view, a great read is Principles of Sustainable Finance by Dirk Schoenmaker and Willem Schramade , published by Oxford University Press . It's a comprehensive overview of what sustainable finance is and its main components.

Integrating climate considerations: Eurosif - The European Sustainable Investment Forum has launched a special survey on climate data and indicators, available until 7 October. The aim is to uncover what?climate-related information is truly decision-useful for investors, how and where data is sourced and how it is used. If you would like to contribute, you can do so on the dedicated website.

ESG reporting frameworks: In August this year, Bloomberg Law published this useful, short guide that offers a comparison between the different ESG reporting frameworks, which includes visualisations. There are also links to ESG Toolkits!

Trends in ESG reporting for investors: UN PRI has created a brilliant overview of the trends in ESG reporting and what drives pressure for disclosures. The review covers 120 ESG reporting instruments across 5 global reporting initiatives and 9 key jurisdictions.

Regulation moving ESG into risk & compliance: Ingo Steinhaeuser CAMS, CGSS has written an analytical article for 汤森路透 about how regulatory changes are creating the need for more data collection, and moving beyond compliance only.

Czech Republic & ESG: A recent survey conducted among 122 stakeholders in Czechia, has indicated that financial sector actors are willing to cut profits for the sake of sustainability, and almost three-quarters claim to consider ESG metrics when making investment decisions. This raises serious questions as to why sustainable finance as a topic has been met with skepticism, and whether the survey's respondent pool and methodology were rigorous enough - given the lack of tangible progress with ESG indicator integration and financial flow redirection away from unsustainable business models.

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Upcoming events

Switzerland: Between 5 & 8 September, the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI) will host its annual conference in Zürich. The event focuses on cutting-edge research on multiple sustainable finance themes, showcasing the best academic research and providing a meeting and discussion place for experts and practitioners. Register to attend on the GRASFI website.

Hungary: On 6 September, portfolio.hu? , the Hungarian financial and economic online news portal will hold its hybrid conference, Sustainable World 2022, with a focus on ESG compliance practices, good corporate implementations, and various other themes. Sign up to watch the sessions offline/online in local language.

United Kingdom: On 6 & 7 September, a special event on ESG and TCFD is taking place in London - ESG Regulation, Data & TCFD Reporting Conference. The speaker list includes some of the most knowledgeable practitioners and will offer interesting insights on what to expect in the reporting and data space.

Germany: Global Infrastructure & Energy Dialogue - #GID22 - organised by Dialogue Capital Ltd. takes place 14 - 15 September in Frankfurt. It will bring together senior movers and shakers from a wide range of industries related to infrastructure and investing.

Germany: OMFIF is hosting a special one day conference "International standards for sustainable finance: Europe’s place in the vanguard" on 15 September, with an impressive list of speakers and topics covered. Check out the agenda and register here to attend.

Romania: Social Innovation Solutions , led by Ciprian Stanescu , will host its first Climate Change Summit on 4 & 5 October in Bucharest. The event will have a wide range of topics, including sustainable finance. Check out the event and register on the Summit's website.

Online: The Florence School of Regulation is relaunching its regular online debates! The next one is on methane emissions and on the Global Methane Pledge, run by Andris Piebalgs. Register to attend on the website.

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Database of Sustainability and Finance experts from the CEE region

Are you organising an event on Sustainable Finance? Are you a journalist writing an article on the topic with a CEE perspective? Then ISFC's new initiative is perfect for you! Our database lists relevant professionals from the region with combined expertise in sustainability and finance. Check out the database here.

Should you be on the list of experts? Please contact [email protected]