(Bloomberg) --
The European Union is planning to step up its push to make the financial sector do its part in fighting climate change, according to the bloc’s official in charge of regulating the industry.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU commissioner responsible for financial services, said an “updated green financing strategy” will be presented in the first half of next year. “Europe has the potential to build itself into a center of expertise to attract rising numbers of investors keen to place their funds and savings in green investment options,” he said at a Bloomberg event in Brussels.
Among the measures under consideration are requirements for companies to publish more information on their “sustainability risks and opportunities,” according to Dombrovskis. A lack of comparable data has been named as a potential gap in Europe’s plan to promote the market for sustainable finance.
The EU is trying to advance some of the world’s most ambitious regulations for the market, including a classification system to define which economic activities count as sustainable for investment purposes. Tougher disclosure requirements for asset managers and the creation of financial benchmarks with a lower carbon footprint have already been agreed.
Dombrovskis said on Wednesday the EU’s executive arm will work on standards for green loans and mortgages to help Europe’s stock of buildings become more energy efficient.
On top of that, the bloc will explore regulatory changes to better manage climate risks like natural disasters within the financial system, he said. Closer integration of these aspects into financial supervision and stress testing will also be considered, Dombrovskis said.
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