On Monday 17 October, the ABBL was pleased to participate to the LuxFLAG Sustainable Investment Week 2022, hosting and moderating a panel discussion on ESG disclosures from the banks’ perspective. That was a great opportunity to decrypt the new disclosures requirements of the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance and how banks are addressing the related challenges and opportunities.
The ABBL was pleased to participate to the LuxFLAG Sustainable Investment Week 2022, hosting and moderating a panel discussion on ESG disclosures from the banks’ perspective with the participation of Alessandra Simonelli (Head of Sustainability at Banque Internationale à Luxembourg), Mehtap Numanoglu (Chief Risk Officer at BBH) and Francesco Pirovano (Strategic initatives at Intesa Sanpaolo). That was a great opportunity to decrypt the new disclosures requirements of the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance and how banks are addressing the related challenges and opportunities.
Julien Froumouth (ABBL Sustainable Finance Adviser) shared an overview of the most relevant regulations for the banking sector and the main implementation challenges the banks are facing to comply with the large range provisions from sustainability reporting to taxonomy-alignment and ESG risk management.
The three panelists shared practical insights how they govern the disclosure process within their organisation, setting the tone at the top and cascading the processing of ESG-related information to the various business and control department while upskilling relevant staff. The discussion touch the ESMA Supervisory Briefing published in May 2022 on sustainability risks and disclosures in the field of asset management as well as the reporting obligations of companies under the article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation or the green bond framework recently issued by BIL to finance energy-efficient residential housing in the Grand-Duchy.
Many questions remain open when talking about ESG disclosures and the ABBL is dedicating significant effort with its members to support the broad financial sector in better understanding what is expected from a regulatory point of view as well as identify solutions for a practical and efficient implementation.
LuxFLAG ESG Discretionary Mandate Label
As a result of a fruitful collaboration between the ABBL and its members and LuxFLAG, a new ESG Discretionary Mandate Label will be launched this month with the first applications files expected by the end of the year.
This new label targets standard discretionary mandate products that assist with the transition to mitigate and adapt to the climate change, as well as other environmental and social issues embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
More information about the eligibility criteria can be found on the LuxFLAG website.
LSFI new working group
The Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) continues to carry out its strategy and action plan to support the financial sector towards its transition to a low-carbon and fair economy. To this end, LSFI has decided to launch four cross-sectorial working groups on:
- Education
- Climate Reporting and Measurement
- Data and,
- Innovation
The working groups will include actors and experts from different industries and will meet in order to identify sustainable finance-related solutions applicable to the Luxembourg economy.
The first working group on Education is already open for application and aims to identify and fill in the gaps related to the skills and competencies the Luxembourg financial sector would need to keep maintaining and reinforcing its leading position in sustainable finance.
Should you be interested in applying to the working group, you can contact info@lsfi.lu to have more information about the application process.
By Julien Froumouth – Sustainable Finance Adviser