EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance: Sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic requires the right tools

27 April 2020

Clear policy priorities: The Members of the European Council identified the central role of the Green Deal in its Roadmap for Recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic

The right tools for the job
The TEG was established to provide expertise on new tools to finance a sustainable future. Now that decisions must be made on recovery policies, we consider it essential to use the right tools for the job. The TEG has developed three tools that can guide both government and private sector plans right away: The Sustainable Taxonomy, the Green Bonds Standard and the Paris-Aligned and Climate Transition Benchmarks. These tools encourage substantial contributions to environmental and social objectives, including by companies and financial actors with which are not fully aligned with environmental goals today.
The Sustainable Taxonomy provides a framework for future recovery measures. It shows the environmental performance and minimum social standards that are necessary for economic activities to reach our climate and environmental goals, including climate neutrality by 2050 and ambitious 2030 targets. The Taxonomy is particularly relevant for new investments, that are needed to transition our economy, showing how and where to cut carbon emissions, build climate-resilience, optimise supply chains towards sustainability and to stimulate jobs.
The Green Bond Standard (GBS) presents a best practice model, the elements of which can be applied by all bond issuers to explain how their funding contributes to the wider sustainability strategy and resulting environmental and social impacts of the issuer. The framework of the GBS can also be applied to increase transparency of social impact and outcomes of finance.
The Paris-Aligned and Climate Transition Benchmarks are tools to support allocation of a large amount of private capital towards climate transition. They do so by aligning investors' portfolio selection with climate change objectives, particularly the IPCC's 1.5-degree Celsius trajectory.
The time to work is now
This Covid-19 crisis is not the last we will face. The prognosis of our scientists teaches us that our climate goals are critical to reducing the risk of catastrophic crises in the future.
The TEG stands ready to work with the European Commission for the remainder of its mandate, providing guidance on the implementation of tools by both public and private sectors to enable finance to play its full role in a sustainable recovery.
The opportunity for a resilient, sustainable and fair economic recovery is right before us. We encourage all governments, public institutions and the private sector to use the right tools for the job and to take it.

DG FISMA

© European Commission