Tribune. Upon assuming office, Joe Biden will re-engage the United States in the Paris climate agreement and promise to reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. With President Biden, the United States is now ready to follow in Europe’s wake in the fight against climate change.
The European Union (EU) has long been addressing the issue of mobilizing financial markets with a view to releasing the more than 180 billion euros in annual investments necessary for sustainable economic activities and for ecological transition in Europe. But financial markets, like the climate crisis, are cross-border.
Therefore, global standards and comprehensive regulatory cooperation are essential to ensure that financial markets can be fully used to finance a more sustainable world.
More attractive
As part of its Green Deal, Europe should now look to the Biden administration to seek an international agreement on how stock markets can promote sustainability, in particular focusing on an international minimum standard for the publication of extra-financial information by companies.
These publication standards would meet a key market need and improve the ability of investors to take into account climate risks, or risks linked to sustainable development, when making their investment decisions. A global standard supported by the EU and the US will also make Europe more attractive for international investment and advance the EU’s efforts to promote a capital markets union.
The Investment Company Institute (ICI) represents regulated funds that manage more than € 29 trillion in assets around the world. ICI calls on companies to publish information on their activities in accordance with the recommendations of the Stability Council’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) financial [créé par le G20 de Londres en 2009] and those of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board [SASB, organisation à but non lucratif créée en 2011 pour élaborer de nouvelles normes de comptabilité « durable »].
The ICI encourages the Biden administration to make this a top priority. He calls on European leaders to also focus on the TCFD and SASB recommendations, as this is the best starting point for coordination between the EU and the United States.
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