Barbara Buchner’s Post

Friends of Europe’s latest report delves deeply into finance’s crucial role in the transition towards a climate resilient and net-zero future. ➡️ We know that additional annual investments of approximately €620bn will be needed to meet the objectives of the Green Deal and the REPowerEU Agenda, and further annual investments of €92bn to reach the EU’s green industrial targets. ➡️ The activities in the financial sector will therefore significantly impact the ecological transformation to a climate-resilient and net-zero future. In this report, we make three proposals to strengthen the EU sustainable finance agenda during the next EU mandate: 1️⃣ We recommend that policymakers re-examine the relationship between sustainability and competitiveness. 2️⃣ We argue that adjustments to the sustainable finance agenda governance framework are needed. 3️⃣ We recommend that the next EU mandate place greater emphasis on the socio-economic dimensions of the net-zero transition. ↪️ Read the full report by Friends of Europe's Luke O Callaghan White and Davide Sofia here: https://t.co/I09CE6qGBE #SustainableFinance #TwinTransition #Europe2024 #FutureOfEurope #RenewedSocialContract Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou Laurent Bontoux Ben Caldecott Ciarán Cuffe Brendan Curran Sandrine Dixson-Declève James Hooton Burçak İnel Ramona Liberoff Signe Andreasen Lysgaard Nick Mabey Dana Marekova Ricardo Mourinho Felix Rachel Owens Sébastien Paquot Martin Porter Fabiola Schneider Livio Stracca Julia Symon Paul Tang Jane Thostrup Jagd Maria van der Heide Roeland Van der Stappen Ursula Woodburn Jurei Yada

A very important Finance Day at #COP28 yesterday for high-integrity #VCMs. Tariye Gbadegesin, VCMI Co-Chair, moderated a Presidential roundtable alongside leading voices in climate finance, including U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Mark Carney, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, Finance Minister of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, UK Treasury’s Lords Minister, Charlotte Vere, Singapore Senior Minister and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change, Teo Chee Hean and World Bank President, Ajay Banga. The session reiterated the importance of carbon markets as a key finance channel to move private sector investment to nature and technology projects at the scale and pace we need. Integrity is central to the market’s ability to scale and address the wrongs of the past. In case you missed it, sharing a few standout moments below: 1.     VCMs must reinforce the Paris Agreement, not work against it. This means integrity, credibility and measures to avoid double counting must be instilled in the market, right now. 2.     VCMs increase finance flows to developing economies: High-integrity VCMs represent a sure way to focus financing towards developing economies which need increased levels of finance the most. 3.     Support for integrity measures: vocal support among participants for the work of the VCMI and The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) as a means to build confidence, embed integrity and provide a pathway to increased government action and regulation. All government action must engage with and work to commit to these measures. 4.     Increased collaboration essential: across governments, regulators, private sector, innovations. This will drive increased action at scale. However, time is running out to build a market that helps the world to successfully meet its climate commitments. We are all in agreement that actors across the market and beyond must come together to urgently act. Integrity, collaboration, and capacity are the foundations for scale. Everyone here has a role to play. Now is the time to get it done, no more delays, just more action.

Big day at COP28 yesterday for voluntary carbon markets. Great to see our VCMI Co-Chair Tariye Gbadegesin joined by John Kerry, Mark Carney and government representatives highlighting the importance of carbon markets in creating meaningful impact for climate, nature and people. It's time for a paradigm shift towards integrity and collaboration. VCMI and The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) are working to build confidence, embed integrity, and pave the way for increased government action and regulation. We need to act urgently – every actor has a role to play, no more delays, just more action for a sustainable tomorrow. #ClimateAction #VoluntaryCarbonMarkets #Sustainability

🍃 Transition to survive and thrive 🍃   From keynote speakers Wendy Miles KC and Fiona Macklin to expert panels on transition investment, transition risk, just transition and transition frameworks, the NZLA’s inaugural symposium provided critical insights and tackled challenging issues head on.    It also acted as a call to arms, highlighting the unique role that lawyers can play in the transition to net zero.   To learn about the key takeaways from the symposium, please see: https://lnkd.in/eG96CimP   #ClimateChangeAndLaw #ClimateAction #LCAW2024 #NZLASymposium 

**Our new model for coordinating national sustainable finance objectives!** Reaching national climate goals demands coordination on climate action across governments, financial institutions, corporates, and societies! We put together a gameplan for this all-hands-on-deck strategy to improving climate action and climate risk management: the consortium approach. This accessible guide will help national actors develop sustainable finance consortium in their countries! 🔍We show case studies from the successful implementation of sustainable finance consortiums in four diverse countries: Ireland, Japan, Mexico, and Nigeria.    🔍 The report focuses on the pivotal role these consortiums play as platforms where financial institutions and business corporations collaborate to pursue climate-related financial disclosures.   🔍 It delves into the experiences of these jurisdictions in setting up consortiums and leveraging them to support the adoption of climate disclosure frameworks, such as #ISSB and #TCFD. Key objectives of the report: 🎯 Learn from successful models: Extract valuable insights from the experiences of jurisdictions that have successfully developed consortiums related to sustainability and climate disclosures.  🎯 Understand benefits and challenges: Gain a nuanced understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with establishing #sustainablefinance consortiums.  🎯 Provide a roadmap for implementation: Offer a comprehensive roadmap for entities seeking to establish their own consortiums, facilitating the integration of #sustainability and #climate disclosure frameworks.   "The Consortium Approach to Sustainability Reporting” is tailored for ✅ Financial institutions ✅ Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) ✅ Large companies in the private sector ✅ Industry associations ✅ Stock exchanges ✅ Financial regulators ✅ Government authorities and other stakeholders who are committed to enhancing sustainability and climate reporting within their organizations and the broader business environment. https://lnkd.in/eAqd2jBE #climatefinance #cop28 #climateaction #sustainablefinance #climaterisk   UNDP UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)

On 21 June 2024, the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance held a law and climate symposium: ‘Transition to Survive and Thrive’. This inaugural event brought lawyers, clients and partner organisations together for strategy sessions and convened expert panels on pressing climate issues and their relevance to practitioners and clients. Below is a summary of the key takeaways from the event. You can also watch the video recording of the event and download materials from here: https://lnkd.in/eu3Y_Uv8

🌎 As #COP28UAE comes to a close, more than ever I am convinced finance has a critical role to play in the fight against #climatechange. ℹ️ More specifically, Finance Ministers and their teams play a critical role in driving progress toward the Paris Agreement commitments via strengthening their institutional capacities, increasing interaction and international collaboration. What are the financial tools? 💰promoting and developing green government loans; ❇️ green, sustainability, and natural disaster bonds; 🤝🏻 insurance products and credit guarantees, including deepening coordination with multilateral development banks; ♻️ developing innovative blended and concessional finance mechanisms through public-private partnerships, green subsidies and tax incentives. But also via concrete policy actions to: 👉🏻establish climate-related disclosure standards for the whole economy; 👉🏻develop climate finance taxonomies; 👉🏻and conduct climate-related financial risk assessments. My final words are borrowed to Magnus Brunner, Austrian Finance Minister: If it’s not in the budget, it’s not a priority. 🙏🏻 So let’s make climate investment a significant part of our budgets as we continue our awareness raising work with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. 👉🏻Read summary note: https://lnkd.in/g2npqfCw #cop28 #greenfinance #sustainablefinance Sigrid Kaag Mart Kivine Ralien Bekkers

Sustainable investments at a critical crossroad? 🌱 While the European Commission reports that 56% of EU funds are promoting environmental or social characteristics or have a sustainable investment objective according to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (#SFDR) and that €180bn+ of assets under management meet the criteria of the EU’s Climate Transition Benchmarks and the EU’s Paris aligned benchmarks (The EU Climate Benchmarks), the Financial Times reveals a contrasting trend. According to Barclays research, sustainability-focused funds faced a $40bn cash outflow this year due to poor performance. 🌍   It will be interesting to see whether the increasing reporting and disclosure obligations, potentially high transition costs and climate change risks and losses will outweigh the fact that sustainable investments currently offer lower returns. European Comission – The EU Taxonomy’s uptake on the ground: https://lnkd.in/dg3y2nwe The Financial Times: https://lnkd.in/djDC7SuY #SustainableFinance #ESG #Investments #Bankingandfinance

On Earth Day, Addenda Capital leadership, alongside sustainability-conscious actors, emphasizes the urgency for decisive governmental action to expedite Canada’s climate transition. Over a year has passed since the Sustainable Finance Action Council (SFAC) provided a robust classification system for green and transition projects. The Canadian government has not yet approved the implementation of this vital framework. Roger Beauchemin, President and CEO of Addenda Capital inc., emphasized the necessity of regulatory clarity and effective price signals to guide capital toward sustainable solutions. At recent events, including the The Globe and Mail’s Sustainable Finance Summit and a conference by Le Cercle finance du Québec, he highlighted the unique challenges and opportunities in Canada’s transition efforts. With potential investments reaching up to $125 billion annually needed for Canada to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the absence of a clear transition framework risks sidelining crucial international investments. Let’s champion the implementation of the SFAC’s recommendations and ensure a sustainable future for all.