Sustainable finance

The policy brief makes the case that while the financial sector is key to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it must be transformed to be able to consider the long-term public interest and common goods. Accordingly, it requires making finance sustainable as a whole rather than adding a layer of “sustainable finance”.

This report, prepared by consultancy Mōhio, examines climate finance in New Zealand. It includes a snapshot of key existing climate finance flows and a look at the instruments available to the Government and private sector such as grants, debt and bonds.

The report also outlines the enabling environment required to better facilitate the flows of finance toward low emissions and climate-resilient outcomes. This includes considerations such as information flows, tracking, regulations, organisational forms, and wider alignment across innovation, research and development and other environmental and social outcomes.

Dünya nüfusu giderek artıyor. Bununla birlikte dünyanın
uğradığı tahribat da tehlikeli boyutlara varmış durumda. Küresel finans
sisteminin ve tüm ülkelerin bu tahribatta payı var. Şu an elimizde tek
gezegenimiz olduğuna göre ona iyi bakmak sadece bireysel bir
girişimden ibaret olmamalı. En azından bundan sonrası için kurumsal
ve evrensel tedbirler almak şart.
Ülke kaynaklarının verimli kullanılması amacıyla hem toplumun
hem de çevrenin küresel anlamda korunması mümkündür. Özellikle
finansal sistem içerisindeki otoriter kurumların ve devletlerin gerekli
düzenlemeler ile hem çevreye hem de insana değer veren sürdürülebilir
kalkınma politikalarının gündeme geldiğini görüyoruz.
Sürdürülebilir kalkınmaya aracılık eden finansal piyasaların rolü
gün geçtikçe artıyor. Ülke tasarruflarının taşındığı finansal piyasaların
sağlamlığı sürdürülebilir kalkınmayı doğrudan etkilemektedir.
Bankaların ve borsaların aracılık ettiği kurumların çevreye, ekonomiye
ve insana vereceği etkiler sanılandan daha fazla. Bunun farkına varan
ülkeler sürdürülebilir raporlama ile başlayan süreçte sürdürülebilir
endeksler ile kalkınma için çeşitli girişimlerde bulunuyorlar.

La crise financière de 2007 a remis en cause un certain nombre de paradigmes de l’économie financière conduisant à un redéploiement de la recherche vers une finance qui prend davantage en compte les objectifs de développement durable. L'objectif de cet article est de faire un état des lieux des travaux sur la finance durable à travers une analyse bibliométrique de la base de données WoS entre 1981 et 2018. Notre analyse met en avant un champ d’étude récent, avec une forte dispersion des auteurs et une concentration des publications dans certaines revues. La finance durable est structurée autour de cinq thèmes : la performance des fonds ISR, la responsabilité sociale des entreprises, la performance des entreprises et des indices responsables sur les marchés boursiers, les stratégies d’investissement des acteurs financiers et le rôle des fonds de pension dans le développement durable.

The article focuses on corporate social bonds, which are commonly defined as debt securities whose proceeds are used to finance projects or ventures at favourable conditions, in order to achieve positive social outcomes or to address specific social issues. Social bonds belong to the family of sustainable finance currently developing on international financial markets, especially in the European Union, and where a recent interest has also emerged at the political level. Although in March 2018 the European Commission published its Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, at the moment of writing there is no specific EU legal framework for social bonds. The absence of a precise definition of social bonds and the uncertainty around the remedies for non-compliance of promised 'social' obligations entail serious risks of 'socialwashing' (i.e., the misappropriation of an increasingly attractive label).Through an analysis of the contractual design of social bonds, and the identification of different types of social bonds, the article identifies potential legal 'Achilles heels' of social bonds and suggests possible contractual remedies to ensure that both issuers and beneficiaries comply with their duties in terms of social impact achievement. Finally, the article suggests a European Union intervention in developing a 'goal-oriented' definition for social bonds.

In an era of rising concerns of global warming, combatting climate change has been become a priority on the international agenda. In order to achieve the 2-degree goal, green finance has a vital role to play. Mauritius, being a developing country is no exception to join the league and to promote the provision of green finance. Green finance is a financing instrument binding the green industries to the financial institutions with the objective to protect the environment. However, there has been scant literature on the development of green finance in developing countries. The chapter attempts to map the nexus between the provider of green finance by the commercial banks and the users of green finance in Mauritius while investigating their different green finance solutions proposed. Two surveys were administered to 200 individual customers and 50 businesses under the user’s category and to 15 banks in Mauritius as providers of green finance. The results show that green finance is still...

The sustainable investments industry has dramatically evolved in the last decades. More recently, investors have expressed interest in companies whose products contribute directly to addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since measuring the positive contribution of investments in reaching these goals is no easy task, this student report gives actionable tips that allow investors to better navigate among the various SDG-rating providers.

Au cours de la dernière décennie s’est développée une nouvelle génération d’instruments financiers dédiés au financement de projets à bienfaits écologiques ou sociaux, à commencer par les obligations vertes. L’article offre un aperçu du marché des obligations vertes et de leur cadre réglementaire. D’un point de vue juridique, les obligations vertes se présentent comme des titres de dettes conventionnels, régis par le droit des valeurs mobilières, auxquels se surimposent des engagements volontaires de la part des émetteurs quant à l’utilisation des fonds pour des projets à vocation environnementale et à la reddition de comptes pour la durée du projet financé.

Over the last decade, a new generation of financial instruments dedicated to financing projects with ecological or social benefits has developed, starting with green bonds. This article provides an overview of the green bond market and its regulatory framework. From a legal standpoint, green bonds are conventional debt instruments, governed by securities law, upon which are superimposed voluntary commitments by issuers regarding the use of funds for environmental projects and the reporting for the duration of the project financed.

To organize the different range of actors involved in the transition to sustainable finance around a common conception of their roles and responsibilities, national authorities have deployed strategic roadmaps.

These roadmaps can help prioritize actions and coordinate activities among stakeholders, including policymakers, supervisors, regulators, associations, corporations, and other financial sector participants to accelerate the expansion of sustainable finance.

A 2017 analysis by UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank found that while national roadmaps differ in their scope, content, and methodology, they share common features that contribute to their success as policy instruments. This report examines the international experience and draws lessons to inform the design and implementation of effective sustainable finance roadmaps specifically, without delving into sustainable finance strategies or policy action plans, which generally specify a plan of actionable measures in an established period of time.

In the last decade, the idea of sustainable development and sustainable economy is increasingly being discussed on the international forum, uniting governments as well as international and national institutions/organisations in joint initiatives for the environmental protection. Transition to a sustainable global economy needs financial sources for investments that provide environmental benefits. Green bonds, together with green loans, are basic financial instruments considered as sources of green projects financing. The green bond market is relatively new, but has rapidly been increasing; however, to maintain this growth, investors’ and issuers’ confidence in the green bonds credentials is indispensable. Therefore, the guidelines and standards accepted by financial markets and clearly indicating what should be considered as green investment are crucial for further development of the green bond market and the accomplishment of the green finance objectives. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential of the green bond market to finance the shift towards sustainable economy. By the method of case studies of countries leading in green bond issuance, the paper summarises the best practices that can be implemented in the EU countries to exploit the potential of the green bonds growing market. For better understanding the origin of green bonds, basic theoretical background of green finance is also provided.

Pubblicato nella collana sui diritti umani e le sfide della società contemporanea sotto la direzione scientifica del Prof. Giuseppe Cataldi, questo testo si rivolge a un'ampia platea di lettori, da operatori e ricercatori del settore fino a studenti o semplici curiosi. È possibile goderne anche senza conoscere il linguaggio specialistico o terminologie tecniche.

Prefazione a cura dell'Avv. Prof. Andrea Pisani Massamormile.

Il capitolo I si interroga sul rapporto tra etica e finanza, passando in rassegna la posizione di influenti filosofi laici sulla moralità nella finanza, facendo riferimento alle dottrine sociali ebraica, islamica e cristiana, ai primi esempi storici di "finanza etica" e, in seguito, al dibattito sull’etica, la responsabilità sociale e la sostenibilità nel capitalismo. Infine, si formulano un approccio e una metodologia fondati sul rispetto dei diritti umani e sul consequenzialismo etico.

Il capitolo II funge da collegamento tra la parte teorica e quella giuridico-empirica del presente lavoro, distinguendo le armi dei “cowboy” dalle risorse degli “astronauti” della finanza. Si fa riferimento, per i primi, a temi come l’alterata valutazione del merito di credito, riciclaggio di danaro, usura; tra le “risorse degli astronauti”, invece, si menzionano fondi e borse etiche, strumenti di social impact investing, banche etiche e microfinanza.

Il capitolo III affronta l’analisi critica di una serie di strumenti internazionali: i Principi guida su impresa e diritti umani, i Principi per l’investimento responsabile, i Principi per l’attività bancaria responsabile delle Nazioni Unite e la Tassonomia degli investimenti ecosostenibili dell’Unione Europea, visti come parte di un percorso storico e socio-politico nel quale le questioni relative alla sostenibilità divengono sempre più pregnanti nell’universo finanziario.

In conclusione, si tenta di fornire elementi utili all’ulteriore sviluppo dell’approccio e del lavoro avviato, provando a delineare prospettive di evoluzione nel campo di studio ivi esplorato.

Il testo può essere acquistato sul sito dell'Editore o ordinato presso qualsiasi libreria fisica o online.

(1) Background: The article provides a methodologically coherent analysis of technological development in the context of the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 and its impact on changes in sustainable development policy. (2) Methods: Using a Comparative Automated Content Analysis (ACA) approach, the article compares recent scientific work on sustainable development and the fourth industrial revolution with the discourse in the news media on sustainable development and industry 4.0. (3) Results: The scientific literature focuses more on changes in business models, production processes, and technologies that enable sustainable development. Newspaper and magazine articles write more about sustainable or green investments, sustainable standards, and sustainable reporting. The focus is on topics that are directly relevant to current sustainable business development and the promotion of research and development of clean and smart technologies and processes. (4) Conclusions: The ACA allows a more systematic comparison of different data sources. The article provides a starting point for sustainable development professionals to gain useful insights into a specific context with the help of the ACA.

The issue of state security is especially relevant today, in the era of progressive globalization, corporatism, financialisaton, computerization, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. Maintaining the broadly understood security is a function of the state. Financial security is a component of the national security. Maintaining security is a condition for building economic growth and is a particular challenge in the case of small open economies, for which crisis-causing phenomena are mostly exogenous. The COVID-19 pandemic was the main impetus for the materialization of risks that had an impact on the global economy. It should be emphasized that usually a change in the business cycle, and even the outbreak of a crisis, is unexpected, and its nature is difficult to predict, hence the ongoing discussion on how to regulate the economy to make it crisis-resistant. There is no universal method of building economic resilience to the crisis, but this article attempts to indicate financial and non-financial factors that have a positive impact on building the counter-cyclical financial security of a small open economy.

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar un marco contextual en el que surge el concepto de las finanzas sustentables, así como exponer solo algunas de las situaciones particulares a las que tiene que hacerse frente. Para logra lo anterior, se realizará una revisión de literatura acerca de los efectos del sistema financiero sobre la economía mundial. Para ello, se recurrirán a los estudios empíricos realizados al respecto, así como a una serie de teorías que soportarán tales sucesos, dando pie a la necesidad de un enfoque de sustentabilidad en las finanzas. Posteriormente, se explicará el concepto de las finanzas sustentables y algunas dinámicas que tanto chocan como soportan tal concepto.

This paper analyses (corporate) social and green bonds, which are commonly defined as debt securities whose proceeds are used to finance projects or ventures aiming to achieve positive social or environmental outcomes. The paper examines market practices and international guidelines to identify the main characteristics of social and green bonds, given that there are neither a legal definition nor specific rules for social and green bonds. It then analyses how these financial instruments can be regulated within the Italian legal framework and which enforcement mechanisms apply in case of non-compliance with non-financial obligations.

SOSTENIBILITA' DEL VALORE NEL FINANIAMENTO IMMOBILIARE.
Long Term Sustainable Value (LTSV), stima delle caratteristiche Green e High-Performance degli immobili, Valutazione della sostenibilità dei finanziamenti, dei progetti infrastrutturali e di sviluppo immobiliare, alla luce degli Orientamenti EBA in materia di concessione e monitoraggio dei prestiti e dei fattori Environmental Social and Governance (ESG).
---
Sostenibilità del valore nel finanziamento immobiliare.
"The theory of value needs to be reconsidered in terms of long-term sustainability. Especially when the value is associated with a property which is a collateral for a mortgage." The essay on the Sustainability of Value in Property Financing (i.e. "Sostenibilità del valore nel finanziamento immobiliare"), provides an innovative conceptual framework for understanding the correlations between Long-term sustainable value, Sustainable lending, Sustainable finance associated with Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) factors, Market sustainability and Economic development. This book (currently in Italian only) is based on an international perspective in order to contribute to the analysis of issues of increasing importance for the stakeholders of the banking and financial industry.

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo presentar una revisión de la literatura referente a la unión de los conceptos de “finanzas” y “sustentabilidad”, lo cual se considera importante considerar en el marco de un sistema financiero inestable que se encuentra relacionado con otras afectaciones a la sociedad, tales como el desempleo, la afectación al poder adquisitivo de los hogares e incluso afectaciones al medio ambiente por la financiación de proyectos con implicaciones colaterales adversas. La revisión de la literatura mencionada lleva a estudiar qué se entiende, y qué desarrollo se ha realizado alrededor de los conceptos de “finanzas sustentables” o “sustentabilidad financiera”, los cuales emergen de los dos términos básicos que dan vida a esta revisión de la literatura. El trabajo desarrollado apunta a la necesidad de realizar una transformación en los principios básicos que rigen la práctica de las finanzas, hacia nuevas formas de pensar que permitan satisfacer las necesidades de las organizaciones sin comprometer el bienestar de la sociedad y los hogares en general.

A literature review showed that finance is a driver of sustainability. However, to achieve sustainability through finance, it is necessary to rebuild and adapt the financial system to the specifics of sustainable development. Modern financial systems can be described as one-dimensional, focusing on ensuring the economic security of transactions. Meanwhile, the growing role of risk related to non-financial factors means that the factors referred to as ESG (environmental, social, governance) become the main source threatening the stability of financial systems. Adaptation activities toward the design of so-called three-dimensional financial systems rely on incorporating ESG risk into the financial decisions of the financial institutions that make up the financial system. This is found, among other factors, in the risk assessment methodology. The general goal of the paper is to investigate which ESG criteria are incorporated into the decision-making process of financial institutions an...

Within a context of increasing concentration of ownership, where the Big Three –BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard– now hold over 20% of the shares in S&P500 companies, the spotlight now falls more than ever on institutional investors, which are being increasingly called upon to play a major role in favoring the shift towards stakeholder capitalism by pursuing environmental and societal objectives. These expectations are reinforced by leading institutional investors’ commitments –such as those included in Larry Fink’s last annual letter– to do well by doing good. In spite of this however, while the incorporation of ESG issues into investment policies is surely intended –perhaps above all– to attract an increasing share of clients that place central attention on those aspects, institutional investors’ commitment to pursue sustainability objectives face several limitations. First, promoting more virtuous conduct by investee companies entails significant costs, thereby impairing institutional investors’ returns. Secondly, even though portfolio value maximization objectives may, to some extent, favor the incorporation of ESG factors into investment and stewardship policies, the dissemination of passive funds (i.e. portfolios that track a particular benchmark equity index) is a factor that can impinge upon the effective capacity of institutional investors to encourage the adoption by investee companies of policies that pursue sustainability objectives. Against this backdrop, this article shows that it is illusory to assume that institutional investors can be charged with the task of pursuing objectives of general interest, such as fighting climate change (thus essentially acting in place of the state), where such a task is not aligned with their clients’ and their own interest in improving risk-adjusted returns.

Sustainable finance refers to any form of financial service integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into the business or investment decisions for the lasting benefit of both clients and society at large. In this present situation it is an important tool to make this economy efficient. Bangladesh is now facing a difficult time due to Covid-19 issues both economically and environmentally. To minimize the effect of this sustainable finance can play a role. That’s why the researcher here tries to show that how sustainable finance can play a major role in this present crisis along with their challenges and remedial measures. Environmental degradation, biodiversity losses, wildlife extinction are some of the main reasons of this present pandemic. That’s why sustainable finance is necessary for the economy of Bangladesh. This requires awareness about environmental safety, awareness about sustainable finance, financial incentives to financial institutions for green projects contribution, financial innovation, PPP (Public Private Partnership), more investment in health sector, Bangladesh Bank charges for other banks should be curtailed to encourage financial institutions for sustainable finance etc. for making this country economically healthy.

The entire global population of 212,615 Ultra High-Net-Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) was worth US$30 trillion in 2016, compared to OECD pension funds with assets of US$26 trillion. Despite their significance and growing importance, very little research has explored the financial and economic geography of UHNWIs. This working paper makes a significant contribution to understanding UHNWIs and also to how they may or may not support the growth and development of sustainable finance. It is based on extensive primary research with both UHNWIs and their private bankers/financial advisers, including 47 semi-structured interviews, a structured quantitative survey, and a multi-stakeholder research forum.

This study  investigates the  impact of green  bond  issuance on corporate performance and  further checks  the  intermediate effect  of corporate innovation performance on the  primary relationship. This  study  uses  the  quarterly panel data  of Chinese  non-financial listed  companies in  11  sub- divided industry categories from January 1, 2016, to September 30, 2020. Using the difference-in- difference (DID) model  and  the  parallel trend test,  it is found  that  companies’ issuance of green bonds  has  a  significant positive  effect  on  improving corporate innovation performance and corporate value. Furthermore, the  improvement of innovation performance assists  in enhancing the  promotion effect  of green  bond  issuance on  corporate value. Despite data  limitations, this study’s findings can  be very  helpful for all relevant stakeholders, especially regulators, to intro- duce  conducive policies to support the  issuance of green  bonds  in Chinese. Our  findings can  be useful  for  other emerging markets that  are  dealing with  the  same  green  bond-based growth- sustainability conundrum.

This article argues that any ecological finance theory devised to fit the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs a paradigm shift in the morphology of randomness underlying financial risk modelling, by integrating the characteristics of "nature" and sustainability into the modelling carried out. It extends the common diagnosis of the 2008 financial crisis with considerations on the morphology of randomness and the reasons why neoclassical finance theory is not sustainable from this perspective. It argues that the main problem with unsustainable neoclassical finance risk modelling is its underlying morphology of randomness that creates a dangerous risk culture. It presents Leibniz's principle of continuity and Quetelet's theory of average as cornerstones of classical risk culture in finance, acting as a mental model for financial experts and practitioners. It links the notion of sustainability with the morphology of randomness and presents a possible alternative approach to financial risk modelling defined by rough randomness. If morphology of randomness in nature is properly described by fractal and multifractal methods, hence ecological finance theory has to include fractal properties into financial risk models. The conclusion proposes a new agenda for future research.

Credit risk is one of the most vital risks for any commercial bank. Credit risk arises from the failure of the borrower to pay the installments of the loan regularly. It may arise from either an inability or an unwillingness to perform in the pre-commitment contracted manner. The real risk from credit is the deviation of portfolio performance from its expected value. The credit risk of a bank is also effect the book value of a bank. The more credit of a particular is in risk, the more probability of a bank to be insolvent. Globally, more than 50% of total risk elements in Banks and Financial Institution (FI) s are credit risk alone. Thus managing credit risk for efficient management of a FI has gradually become the most crucial task. Credit risk management encompasses identification, measurement, matching mitigations, monitoring and control of the credit risk exposures.
In my whole report, I was working on the credit risk Management of BASIC Bank Limited. I have collected last Ten-year financial data of BBL about credit risk management. In my analysis I have showed a comprehensive overview about CRM in different phase of my report. First, I have showed the importance, advantage, challenges and process of CRM. Then I have described about the CRM practice and performance of BBL. Finally, I analyze the impact of CRM on banks financial performance. I have used Ms Excel to analyze the data. I have also used SPSS software to compare relationship between CRM and banks profitability. After analysis and discussion, I have identified the summary of my research’s findings. I have also given some recommendations about CRM for the company.
After analyzing the financial data, I like to conclude that BBL is one of the most promising banks in our country. According to its CRM performance, the level credit risk of BBL is in moderate level. However, it has the ability to reduce the credit risk possibility and keep it in lower level.

This paper seeks to assess how the international banking community is building sustainability into corporate strategies; how effectively these strategies are being implemented; how sustainability is being embedded into key business processes and decisions; and how sustainability principles are reflected in reporting. It presents an assessment of the sustainability performance of banks using a range of frequently used indicators, while also scrutinizing the indicators by examining the extent to which they effectively measure the performance and commitments of banks. While many banks achieve high scores on these indicators, there is evidence that there are significant flaws which are not adequately addressed.

It is argued that flaws that contributed to the global financial crisis – misaligned incentives, information asymmetry, financial innovation and levels of risk – also pose risks from a broader environmental, social and governance perspective. A schism exists between symbolic and substantive efforts towards sustainability, which is indicative of sustainability not being integrated in overarching business strategies.

The research concludes by arguing in favour of increased convergence of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance, which would embed sustainability into authoritative frameworks, make environmental, social and governance matters more enforceable, and firms increasingly accountable. Yet, these advantages will likely only manifest when self-regulation is reinforced by mandatory regulation in critical areas.

Summarizes the triple bottom line factors that make an ecolodge environmentally, socially and financially successful. EplerWood International studied the market for and business characteristics of ecolodges operating in developing countires in order to determine the key factors for business viability.

With growing global concern for environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently focused on green finance. In this study, existing studies on green finance in the context of the banking sector have been reviewed with considerations on products and determinants of green finance. The content analysis approach has been used to critically analyse and summarize forty-six (46) relevant studies. The results found green securities, green investments, climate finance, carbon finance, green insurance, green credit and green infrastructural bonds as part of key green finance products of banks. Pertinent determinants the study found to be influencing green finance policies from banks include environmental and climate change policies, interest rates, religion, risks, social inclusion and social justice as well as banking regulations. In theory, this study provides a guide for further studies. The results of the study will assist banks on the key issues to consider in adopting, developing and granting green finance. ARTICLE HISTORY

The report offers concrete insights from G20 countries on how to harness the power of current and nascent digital technologies that underpin the digitalization of finance to deliver on the SDGs. A key message from the report is that technologies including big data, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, blockchain, and the Internet of things (IoT), can address a number of the most significant barriers, identified by the G20 Green Finance Study Group, to scaling the deployment of sustainable finance.

In the last decade, the idea of sustainable development and sustainable economy is increasingly being discussed on the international forum, uniting governments as well as international and national institutions/organisations in joint initiatives for the environmental protection. Transition to a sustainable global economy needs financial sources for investments that provide environmental benefits. Green bonds, together with green loans, are basic financial instruments considered as sources of green projects financing. The green bond market is relatively new, but has rapidly been increasing; however, to maintain this growth, investors’ and issuers’ confidence in the green bonds credentials is indispensable. Therefore, the guidelines and standards accepted by financial markets and clearly indicating what should be considered as green investment are crucial for further development of the green bond market and the accomplishment of the green finance objectives. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential of the green bond market to finance the shift towards sustainable economy. By the method of case studies of countries leading in green bond issuance, the paper summarises the best practices that can be implemented in the EU countries to exploit the potential of the green bonds growing market. For better understanding the origin of green bonds, basic theoretical background of green finance is also provided.

This paper focuses on sustainable finance and its most dominant form, socially responsible investment (SRI). Favored by the emergence of sustainable development, SRI consists in integrating into the investment decision process the respect of extra-financial criteria and reflects a developed practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The implementation of investment strategies based on sustainable financing approaches has increased in recent years. Our objective is to highlight the situation of this form of sustainable finance in Morocco and to answer the following question: "Morocco which has inscribed its investment strategies and its growth policy in logic of sustainable development that it put in place to attract investors (companies or savers) concerned societal and environmental issues?" The study of the Moroccan context, with emphasis on the commitment of the different actors, allowed us to draw up an inventory of the dynamics of this finance and to conclude that Morocco has a head start in its region and is moving more and more towards green financing but we are still far from the development rates achieved in the world. Its SRI market is still embryonic and represents a niche to exploit. Obstacles still hinder the transition to a sustainable and responsible economy and it is appropriate for all actors (State, private or public institutions, civil society and individuals) to deploy even more efforts to meet the requirements of a changing world. Résumé Ce papier s'intéresse principalement à la finance durable et à sa forme la plus dominante, l'investissement socialement responsable (ISR).

Green bonds are one of the most prominent innovations in the area of sustainable finance over the past decade. However, to date there have only been a few academic studies on green bonds, and these have tended to focus on what impact green labels have on bond yields. Our analysis is one of the first empirical studies designed to address the broader questions of what attracts investors and issuers to the green bond market, the role of green bonds in shifting capital to more sustainable economic activity, and how green bonds impact the way organisations work with sustainability. Using Sweden as a case study, this paper provides insights into the rapid growth of the green bond market and how green bonds affect market participants’ engagement with sustainability that are easily missed if one focuses only on how green bonds are marketed.

This essay will consist of two major parts. Firstly, various roles and functions of central banks will be presented, with particular focus on the recent years. Secondly, complexities of the central banking functions and monetary policy will be analysed, considering the extent to which Artificial Intelligence is (un)prepared to perform them autonomously in the foreseeable future (up to 2030).

Background (1) In the time of the 4th Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, a conglomerate of technical and social inventions, political contexts, socio-cultural circumstances, environmental policies, business models, and economic policies has emerged. Sustainability policy in theory and practice aims to deal with the effects of all these factors and to try to make decisions that ensure both social and economic development sustainably. The question is how to familiarize oneself with the current knowledge about the relationship between Industry 4.0 and sustainability?; (2) Methods: This research utilizes an automated content analysis method to analyses scientific journals, newspapers and magazines. The comparison of results of both research group shows that the scientific literature focuses more on changes in business models, production processes and technologies that enable sustainable development; (3) We found that the scientific literature focuses more on changes in business mode...

Eco-social banks are financial entities that use a sustainability based system of values to operate. Their criteria and processes are directed toward a maximization of sustainability, in opposition to traditional banks that maximize profit. The existence of eco-social banks shed light on banking services in regard to the environment and the socio-economy. Their constituents give a benchmark to the rest of the field in terms of sustainability and thus this work focuses on this specific area: this paper aims to find the most common constituents of eco-social banks, in order to determine whether they are truly sustainable, and if so, if they were reproducible by traditional banks. The analyse shows there are five main constituents of eco-social banks, whilst one is particularly important: negative selection of criteria based on sustainability in order to obtain credits and investments. They allow financial entities to limit their negative impact by only financing companies that fulfil all the requirements of the criteria. In conclusion, this paper introduces a ranking of the negative criteria, and a model called "Sustainable Benchmark based on Eco-social Banking (SBEB)".

This policy brief discusses the implications of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) both for investment firms and for investors. The author warns that while the suitability and the appropriateness assessments may share the same goal of enhancing investor protection, they are subject to two different regimes. And, particularly when seen from the investment services providers' standpoint, she emphasizes need for them to be kept separate and to be approached with their clear-cut distinctions in mind.

The policy brief makes the case that while the financial sector is key to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it must be transformed to be able to consider the long-term public interest and common goods. Accordingly, it requires making finance sustainable as a whole rather than adding a layer of “sustainable finance”.

Environmental footprint (EF) indicator has emerged as a tool to measure human demand for productive land and water and it is used for the evaluation of the impact of products or economic activities on the environment. There are many indicators that are used in the decision making for the investment in the power sector, however, predominant are the economic indicators which underestimate the depreciation of natural capital (environment) and the value added generated by the public services. Many research studies have been carried out in an attempt to demonstrate the versatility of the EF by extending its applicability not only to environmental assessment, but also to use it, among other economic indicators, when assessing sustainable investment. Sustainable investment (SI) combines fundamental analysis and engagement with an evaluation of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors. The purpose of this article is, upon evaluating the EF, to identify the opportunities ...