Sustainable Finance

Wolkenkratzer, in dessen Glasfassade sich ein grüner Wald spiegelt

Sustainable finance refers to the consideration of sustainability issues by private and public actors. Sustainable finance is thus a cross cutting issue of different policy areas, including budgetary, financial, industrial, and economic policies, as well as sustainability, nature conservation, and climate mitigation policies.

The world needs to respond to the emergencies of climate change and the extinction of species. This entails a comprehensive socio-ecological restructuring to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality and a sustainable economy. Sustainable Finance has a key role to play in this transformation.

The transformation will fundamentally change economic structures and their production and consumption patterns. The financial system leverages change as a provider of capital for the real economy. For example, it provides companies with financial capital in a relatively easy and cheap manner. Sustainable Finance requires sustainability definitions and transparency regulations in line with systematic scientific standards. Sustainable Finance activities at Germanwatch promote these concerns with a focus on German, European, and international Sustainable Finance strategies. Germanwatch as a civil society organisation working on environmental and development issues contributes to the political and economic processes necessary for transformation.

Overwiev Sustainable Finance activities at Germanwatch
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Aktuelles zum Thema "Sustainable Finance"

Publication
Analysis of the new coalition agreement – Focus on climate protection and finance
Just weeks after the new coalition government took office, Germany took over the Presidency of the G7. The G7 Presidency provides the new federal government an opportunity to demonstrate the importance it attaches to international climate policy and ambitious climate protection. The coalition agreement lays out the government’s course. This briefing paper identifies issues on which the new federal government is already sending strong signals, as well as opportunities and gaps.
Publication
Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation
Last April, the European Commission published a new draft of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which is intended to provide companies with clarity on what and how they need to report and reduce administrative burden. The goal is to remove barriers and to leverage financing the transformation to climate neutrality. This briefing paper provides a brief overview of the ongoing processes around the CSRD and the standard-setting and then takes a first summarizing look at the new European corporate reporting standards.
Publication
Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation
Due diligence affects all companies, as it enables to properly assess relevant risks and impacts. While investors and customers show growing awareness of companies' impacts along the value chain, many companies still provide limited detail. In the sixth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure” we examine how corporate due diligence legislation relates to sustainable finance and what questions a legislative proposal needs to answer to avoid greenwashing and support comparable due diligence.
Publication
Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation
No company can afford to ignore the financial risks of climate change. This also applies to small and medium-sized enterprises. To reduce these financial risks for companies and investors, it is crucial to be transparent. In the fifth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure” we examine how small and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from forward-looking reporting requirements.
Publication
Development finance institutions (DFIs) play a key role in aligning financial flows with low-emission, climate-resilient development pathways. Many have committed to support the objectives of the Paris Agreement. In this working paper Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and the World Resources Institute take a closer look at financial intermediary lending by DFIs, proposing a phased approach for aligning indirect investments.
Publication
Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation
This year will be key for future climate policy and especially for sustainable finance in Germany and Europe. Sustainable finance plays a crucial role in improving climate protection and sustainable growth. To this end, Germanwatch joined forces with the Alliance for Corporate Transparency in order to push towards greater corporate responsibility and disclosure requirements to meet the EU and Paris climate targets. This is the fourth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation”, in which we aim to shed light on the need for and benefits of forward-looking reporting requirements in a changing EU regulatory environment.