The various measures to promote sustainable finance have had a positive impact on the ecological transition, but more needs to be done, according to European experts at a conference held as part of European Sustainable Energy Week on Wednesday 12 June.
According to the experts, transparency policy tools have enabled the market to progress - tools such as the EU Taxonomy (see EUROPE 13140/1), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (‘CSRD’) (see EUROPE 13134/14), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (‘SFDR’) (see EUROPE 13069/25) and the EU Green Bond (‘EU GB’) (see EUROPE 13305/16).
“We have already seen a correlation between the introduction of these rules and an increase in demand for sustainable investment in Europe, based on confidence in the market and its clarity”, points out Tsvetelina Kuzmanova, a policy specialist at the independent think-tank E3G on climate change.
However, Member States’ budgetary policies must also support the green transition. “Investments need to be coupled with a plan that includes an industrial strategy or a transition strategy for the real economy”, she stressed. In particular, she mentioned the introduction of taxes and the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies.
This idea is supported by Miguel Gil Tertre, Chief Economist at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy: “With tax systems that are more conducive to the change we want to see in the EU with regard to the climate position and the energy transition, we would be able to deliver much more”. He pointed out that there is a great need for investment, but that the lack of resources makes it difficult to obtain a large budget for energy. To attract investment, he mentioned several avenues.
In his view, public investment should attract long-term private investment in transport and energy networks, for example. We also need to match needs with the right financial instruments, such as counter-guarantees with banks. Finally, barriers to investment must be removed by encouraging the capital markets union. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)