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Archive » May 2022 » Banking system and climate change: hints from the Eu large banks financial statements

Banking system and climate change: hints from the Eu large banks financial statements

Lorenzo Esposito, Erika Pasquali
May 2022 - n. 5
Keywords: Banca, finanza sostenibile, disclosure non finanziaria, climate change
Jel codes: G28, Q58

The green transition will be the most important global economic transformation of the coming decades and will require a large flow of funding. For this, it is crucial that the financial system, and in particular the banks, are fully engaged in the objectives of the transition. The European Union has put in place a large group of legislative initiatives aiming, among other things, at structuring the information concerning the issues of climate change provided by companies to the market and to all stakeholders. In this work, we discuss these initiatives also analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data provided by the top 10 Eu banking groups, to verify the depth and comparability of the information provided. A progressive expansion of this information emerges, although they are still too heterogeneous, showing the need for clearer indications from the regulators, in the wake of the green asset ratio proposed by the Eba. On the quantitative side, we observe a gradual repositioning of banks' assets towards green assets, even if with different choices; the direction is therefore the right one, but it is difficult to say, for now, whether the speed of change is sufficient for the needs of the transition.

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