March news: nature restoration law, first ever European Climate Risk Assessment & lots of events

Climate risks in Europe are rising

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published its first European Climate Risk Assessment which is a sobering read. The assessment identifies 36 climate risks with potentially severe consequences across Europe. The risks are evaluated in the contexts of risk severity, policy horizon (lead time and decision horizon), policy readiness and risk ownership. It further identifies priorities for EU policy action, based on a structured risk assessment united with qualitative aspects, such as considering social justice.

Some of the worst climate effects are already materialising in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, for example, in recent decades, the annual mean and for the extreme cold and heat shows the strongest increase in central-eastern and southern Europe.

The European Parliament waters down nature restoration

The Guardian has covered the European parliament voting for watered-down law to restore nature. The European Parliament backed a watered-down version of the law to restore nature, which “sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20% of its land and sea by the end of the decade“. The article also explains what role the farmers' protests and right-wing opposition have played in this development.

The farmers' protests have received wide coverage:

Foreign Policy : Europe’s Farmer Protests Are Part of a Bigger Problem - The unrest exposes the trade-offs that governments must confront on climate policy.

Context Newsroom : Are farmers' protests a threat to the EU's green targets?

Euroviews: This is why green activists joined farmers protests for fairer EU farming policies

Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH : The farmers’ protests, the far right and the fallout

Politico: Hundreds of Czech farmers protest against EU regulations

Net Zero aligned carbon offsetting under scrutiny

Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford has published paper the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting (revised 2024) which focuses primarily on:

1.        Reinforcing the urgency of reducing emissions

2.        Re-emphasising the need to close the carbon removal gap

3.        Highlighting further recent evidence showing that nature-based solutions are critical for addressing the drivers and impacts of climate change

4.        Clarifying the durability risks and co-benefits of different types of removal and storage

5.        Defining terms to reflect new international guidance on net zero and nature commitments and claims

6.        Recognizing the value of mitigation efforts outside of organizational net zero targets

NEWS

Bloomberg : Academics Question ESG Studies That Helped Fuel Investing Boom - A growing number of scholars say research showing companies can do well by doing good relies on shaky evidence.

Global Finance Magazine announced the latest winners of its Sustainable Finance Awards 2024 - however, the methodology and evaluation criteria is not publicly disclosed.

Forbes shared an article In Major Blow To Sustainability Advocates, SEC Poised To Make Climate Disclosure Optional reporting that "according to reports, the SEC has made CRDS optional and dropped all Scope 3 reporting."

EU should introduce wide-ranging stewardship regulation, says PRI by Responsible Investor

NYC funds prompt JP Morgan Chase to publish green financing ratio by Responsible Investor

IPE on the news about ABP pledges €30bn for new impact investments

EFRAG reports on the Launch of the efrag financial institution advisory panels (fiaps)

US regulator drops some emissions disclosure requirements from draft climate rules an article by Reuters

ROBECO launches the Essentials of Biodiversity Investing

Singapore to offset a third of climate reporting costs for large non-listed companies an article by Eco-Business

Danske bank AM to splash fossil fuel firm investable universe by 90 percent by Responsible Investor

EFRAG releases Second set of technical explanations on ESRS

Responsible Investor shares an article Anti-ESG advocates will keep pushing despite CA100+ victories, say lawyers

MORROW SODALI releases Sustainability Trends Across APAC: 2024 Outlook for Boards which focuses on the circular economy, green finance, sustainable investment, the transition to renewable energy and many other topics of interest.

‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction by euronews.green discuss the news about EU initiative to criminalise most serious cases of environmental damage.

SBTi axes net zero commitments of 200+ companies by Real Economy Progress reports on the latest news that 200 companies had their net zero commitments “removed”.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

LSE shared a publication Aligning sovereign bond markets with the net zero transition: the role of central banks which focuses on sovereign bonds, the net zero transition, their alignment, challenges and puts into perspective the role of central banks, while providing key first steps that central banks should take.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) 2023 – an analysis by PwC provides interesting statistics, presents context, discusses reporting, tools and requirements.

Principles for Responsible Investment has published a new EU Policy Roadmap outlines which sets out six key principles, a policy framework for successful economic transition and provides a range of useful information on the subject.

Climate.gov shared a handy summary on the previous year, 2023: A historic year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters – picking out the number of climate and weather disasters, discussing the growing trend of high disaster costs, and presenting a clear comparison across years.

Johan Rockström Wins ‘Environmental Nobel Prize’ for Identifying the Boundaries of Earth’s Life-Support by WSJ, the article focuses on this Swedish scientist and also provides his comments on some hot topics such as Trump's potential re-election and its implications.

ESMA has published a from the Webinar on ESMA Risk Articles on Sustainable Finance which provides a useful overview and insight into dynamic modelling, data and touches on the topic of greenwashing.

Oxford report calls for ‘major course-correction’ to carbon offsetting by Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford updated version provides clarification, guidance and key principles.

ONLINE COMMUNITY INSIGHTS

LinkedIn post: Sean Kidney focuses on the fact that 40% of global shipping is dedicated to transporting fossil fuels and links to useful articles.

LinkedIn post: Climate Change Professionals Group recommends free sustainability courses and  interesting reports by United Nations with easy to follow links.

LinkedIn post: Deutsche Bank reports on sustainable finance, investments, global agreements and sustainable framework.

LinkedIn post: Pratiksha More discusses the topic of user-friendly ways to present data sets and shares an example of  an interesting infographic by Panasonic report Environment : Overview of Environmental Impact and Environmental Accounting.

LinkedIn post: Fabian Diaz focuses on the question of  measuring product system's impact on biodiversity.

LinkedIn post: Vojtech Vosecky informs about new EU developments in the field of saving nature and discusses possible steps in the process.

LinkedIn post: Bill Baue focuses on an article Field Guide to the Anthropocene by Jason Anthony and links to interesting quotes.

LinkedIn post: Jan Burian writes about the The Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal, explains and summarises its purpose and gives his views.

LinkedIn post: Nadia Humphreys reports on survey focusing on ESG, discusses investment, coverage and evolving data sources with reference to the survey

LinkedIn post: Ken Pucker discussing key findings from the report  “Sustainability Insights: As the European Apparel Sector’s Environmental Footprint Widens, Credit Risks are Low, For Now.” by  Mickaël VIDAL, Benjamin Kania and Alphée Roumens – focusing on fast fashion, EU regulatory frameworks and and volume reduction.

LinkedIn post: Bill Baue discusses The Glossary by Science Based Targets initiative and summarizes the key findings.

LinkedIn post: Aron Horvath shares highlights from the event focused on ESG – discussing energy efficiency refurbishments, green loans, data and more useful information.

LinkedIn post: Climate Change Professionals Group summarise the main findings in a simple infographic to better understand the scope 3.

EVENTS

March

• Keep an eye on the Platform's LinkedIn Page, as we will announce the next Platform webinars shortly. There will also be a series of webinars and events featuring Platform speakers, which will allow to gain greater insight into the Platform's work and enable the audiences to engage with its Members.
• Online: on 14 March, at 15:00 CET, Inevitable Policy Response together with Planet Tracker & Principles for Responsible Investment will host a special webinar "Nature risk rising: What do global policy trends mean for investors? ", focused on nature, land use & food system policies. The event will explore what the most material trends mean for investors and companies. Speakers include Peter Elwin, Director of Fixed Income & Head of Food & Land Use Programme, Planet Tracker, Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Chair of Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) Latin America, Kavita Srinivasan, Head of Operations, Inevitable Policy Response, Dr. Nicole Röttmer, Partner & Managing Director, Deloitte, Nathan Fabian, Chief Sustainable Systems Officer, Principles for Responsible Investment, Andrew Howard, Global Head of Sustainable Investment, Schroders. Registration: https://lnkd.in/gASc4uys
• On 12 March, the Platform Chair, Helena Viñes Fiestaswill speak at an event "Sustainability in practice: the road to net zero" hosted by Národná banka Slovenska (National Bank of Slovakia), which will explore the implementation in practice of the different EU Sustainable Finance Agenda files.
• In person: On 21 -  22 March Ecosistema Formazione Italia - EFI will host in Roma Innovation Training Summit 2024, B2B event focuses on approaches, ideas, inovation social sustainability supported by many inspiring speakers.

April

• On 9 April, EU Economy and Finance will host an event focused on "Recovery & Resilience Facility and European Strategic Investments". The European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union organise the event to mark the publication of the mid-term evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). It will take place in Brussels, Art & History Museum (Cinquantenaire) and online. Webstreaming will be available on this webpage.
• Online: on 9 April Planet Tracker will host a 30-minute webinar on the Quarterly Research Update, providing, for example, data dashboard on the key water risk in the textiles industry.
• 10 April, between 9am and 1pm CET, EU Sustainable Finance Days 2024 will be hosting a special event in Madrid. The event will delve into the EU Sustainable Finance policies and EU instruments such as InvestEU programme (incl. SME window and sustainability guarantee), Green Gateway, Enterprise Europe Network’s sustainability advisors, and other European Commission actions supporting SMEs in accessing sustainable finance. The event will be organised as hybrid – in Madrid and web-streaming. Website link and registrations.
• The European Commission ( EU Economy and Finance ) and the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance will host an event in Brussels on 22 April to have a deeper dive into the different focus areas of the Sustainable Finance framework and the Platform's work. Register your interest to attend the event on the event website. International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC) will host the after event information reception.

May

• On 22 and 23 May, AFME (Association for Financial Markets in Europe) will be hosting its annual European Sustainable Finance Summit in Amsterdam, which will see interventions by Martin Špolc from DG FISMA Helena Viñes Fiestas and Sean Kidney from the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, as well as Evert van Walsum fromEuropean Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and Veronika Pountcheva from International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
• 27-29 May, the CEE Sustainable Finance Summit will take place in May at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Prague. Several of the Platform members and observers, including representatives from DG FISMA will be attending in person to engage with the CEE audience. For more details, visit the event website here.

PODCASTS

FSR Energy talks about The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and European carbon pricing in a new podcast episode with Sanjay Patnaik.

Global South Climate Tech presents a new podcast episode on Unifying the Indian Electric Grid with TekUncorked focused on building a sustainable future.

Is ESG over? A new episode of the Unhedged podcast focuses on the future of mindful investing and features Simon Mundy.

Neighborhood Economics: Redefining Wealth Distribution with Innovative Financial Models new podcast episode by The Mindful Marketplace with Joel Skene

NBS #LandUse #Biodiversity #Nature #Environment #SustainableAgri #Investment #Risk #Opportunity #Climate #iprforecasts #planetracker #esg #taxonomy #eutaxonomy #sustainablefinance #finance #sustainability