In the analysis of May 22, Eter analyse the sector that will affect us all at professional, personal and business level.
During the month of May 22 the European Union formulated two major advances in its climate change regulation, on the one hand, the ~European Commission formulated stricter rules for the future European Green Bond Standard to improve transparency and reduce greenwashing, aligning with the European taxonomy. On the other hand, EFRAG announced the initial draft for the sustainability reporting standard. This standard affects more than 50,000 companies compared to the 12,000 affected by the current standard. This report covers a broad set of ESG-related topics ranging from climate change to workers in the value chain and corporate conduct governance.
Alongside these EU standards comes other government-related news as well, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark sign a €135 billion offshore wind pact to create the “green power plant of Europe,” seeking to create wind farms with an output of 150 GW by 2050. The pact will also contribute to large-scale production of green hydrogen, setting combined targets of 20 GW of production capacity by 2030.
May also sees American Express unveil its first $1 billion sustainability bond issue. This bond is part of a $3.5 billion bond series. This green bond can cover multiple projects such as Circular Economy, Green Buildings and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
As this legislation is advancing Deutsche Bank introduces mandatory ESG ratings for suppliers, also in case of having a contract with the bank over 500,000 euros will require an ESG rating to see if it complies with the bank’s own regulations, this is because the bank itself wants to participate in promoting a green economy.
Finally, in remarkable news, the Bank of England announced the results of its biannual climate change test exercise and concluded that UK banks and insurers are likely to be able to absorb the physical and transitional costs of climate change, but will face significant financial difficulties, particularly if measures to address climate change are insufficient or delayed.
Links:
https://www.esgtoday.com/efrag-releases-proposed-european-sustainability-reporting-standards/
https://www.esgtoday.com/american-express-files-for-inaugural-1-billion-sustainability-bond-issuance/
https://www.esgtoday.com/eu-lawmakers-move-to-toughen-expand-green-bond-rules/
https://www.esgtoday.com/germany-netherlands-belgium-and-denmark-sign-major-offshore-wind-pact-to-deliver-the-green-power-plant-of-europe/
https://www.esgtoday.com/deutsche-bank-introduces-mandatory-esg-ratings-for-suppliers/
https://www.esgtoday.com/boe-climate-stress-test-finds-climate-risk-manageable-for-banks-but-highlights-high-cost-of-inaction/