While January is the month of wishes and good resolutions, what can we expect in terms of regulation for sustainable finance in Europe by 2025? In France, candidates for the competitive examination and students at the Institut national du service public (INSP), which has replaced the Ecole nationale d'administration (ENA) since 2022, have been working for decades on a similar question: more or less state? The right answer is a more EFFICIENT state.
We can therefore also hope for a more effective regulation of sustainable finance. The European Commission's announcement at the end of 2024, proposing an omnibus project to better coordinate the various sustainability regulations currently being developed, in particular the 3 pillars of CSRD, SFDR and TAXONOMY, is a welcome step in this direction.
Following three years of complexity and instability in Europe between 2022 and 2024, companies and investors can now look forward to an end to the current situation, which we describe as Kraken and Chaos. This harmonized simplification at European level, if possible without local variations (Germany, France...), would not aim to reduce ambitions but, on the contrary, to accelerate the transition to ACTION, in particular to facilitate the shift to a less carbon-intensive economy, one of the 3 major objectives recalled by the Draghi report, alongside innovation and security.
As far as investors are concerned, in the absence of a clear, stabilized roadmap, the complexity and uncertainty of the current situation means that we are not only running the risk of “greenwashing”, but above all the risk of INACTION, even though climate change is a matter of urgency, and 2024 has once again broken all global warming records, with the +1.5°C threshold now crossed.
In this context, our chronicles look back at the mixed results of the 2024 biodiversity and climate COP, although they remain essential. We also take a look at the update of our climate and biodiversity approaches, and highlight the importance of the long-term work carried out by researchers to support today's and tomorrow's decision-makers, alongside public authorities, the private sector, and citizens. Enjoy your reading!
Summary:
• News: Although disappointing at the end of 2024, the Climate and Biodiversity COP remain essential
• From an academic point of view: Chairs in Green and Sustainable Finance: A tool for transforming research and teaching?
• The responsible investment team in action: New Climate and Biodiversity approaches and policies