Europe has become the home of sustainable investment
“The health of our planet can only improve with a global wave of sustainable investment”. With these words, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened the EU Sustainable Investment Summit 2021, the first annual event of the European Commission on sustainable investment following the launch of the European Green Deal.
The “rise of a global climate conscience” is also changing the way people, businesses and banks invest. “It’s a change in mind-set that is transforming the world of investment, from big players, public and private, to ordinary families, who want to use their savings to protect our common home and our children’s future”, said President von der Leyen.
“Just ten years ago, fossil fuels were still considered a safe and wise investment. But today, people want to know that their investment will do no harm to our planet,” she explained.
Investing in the resilience of our economies
The President of the European Commission referred to the current global rise of energy prices and recalled how as economies are picking up, wholesale gas prices have almost doubled in one year while renewable energy prices have remained stable or even decreased.
“Every euro spent on renewable energies helps our planet. And it equally helps the consumers. But it is also an investment in the resilience of our economies,” she indicated.
The world needs massive investment to finance the transition to a more sustainable economy. In her speech, President Von der Leyen indicated that the European Commission has committed to mobilising at least one trillion euros in sustainable investment inside Europe by 2030. “The new European budget, together with the recovery plan, has 600 billion euros in green investment, the biggest climate investment programme worldwide,” she emphasized.
EU taxonomy and green bonds to attract private capital
None of these goals can be achieved by public initiatives alone. This is why President von der Leyen highlighted the need to attract more capital towards sustainable investment. To do so, she explained the Commission has created a new classification for sustainable investments – the EU taxonomy- and has proposed an EU green bond standard based on this classification.
“Later this month, we will strengthen our leadership, when we will start issuing green bonds worth 250 billion euros as part of NextGenerationEU,” she announced.
The Commission is also setting new rules on transparency and disclosures for the corporate sector in order to create the necessary trust between investors and businesses.
According to the President of the Commission, “Europe has become the home of sustainable investment”, but needs to bring other countries on board and raise the global ambition.
“This is what today’s Summit is about. Paving the way forward to finance the fight against climate change, not just for Europe, but for the entire world and for future generations,” she concluded.