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Catching up with climate investment in the European Union

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will audition the European Commissioner-designates in early November. The hearings are a crucial moment to seek commitment from the EU’s next executive team on the priorities for the coming five years and how they will delivered – including on the urgent issue of investment in the climate transition.

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Press contact Amélie FRITZ Head of Communication and press relations

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  • 11/04/2024 Special issues
    I4CE’s recommendations to the Basel Committee on the disclosure of climate-related risks
    After a first step in 2022, the Basel Committee on Banking supervision is finally moving towards regulation for climate-related risks. Founded in 1974, this forum brings together financial supervisors of the G20 countries and establishes the common standards for financial stability. Two years ago, the Committee published a consultative document on the principles of climate […]
  • 15/03/2024 Foreword of the week
    Certification framework: the devil is in the details
    A few days after the conclusion of negotiations on the European Union's carbon removals certification Framework (CRCF), I4CE helped organise the European Carbon Farming Summit in Valencia, as part of the CREDIBLE project. The high level of stakeholder participation at the summit testifies to the expectations that this new tool will contribute to a better economic valuation of carbon farming practices. The summit raised high hopes for improving and harmonising carbon measurement to certify projects, in particular through remote sensing, in a sector where there is a great deal of uncertainty. While it is vital to improve measurement and monitoring, uncertainty must not be allowed to justify inaction, and the key is to find the right balance between cost and accuracy.
  • 08/03/2024 Foreword of the week
    Fossil fuel phase-out: Development banks need to play a bigger role
    A couple of months ago, COP28 called for the acceleration of efforts “towards the phase-down of unabated coal power”. Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C requires stopping the construction of new coal power plants, that’s for sure. But it also requires retiring existing plants before the end of their lifetimes, which can be more challenging. Public development banks (PDBs) are well-positioned to help overcome barriers to coal phase-out and support countries with the transition to decarbonised electricity systems. A growing number of these banks are exploring strategies to accelerate the early retirement of coal plants. Yet these efforts may carry risks of unintended adverse impacts.
  • 07/03/2024 Climate Report
    Financing Coal Phase-out: Public Development Banks’ Role in the Early Retirement of Coal Plants
    Public development banks have the potential to facilitate the transition from coal to renewable alternatives in developing and emerging countries by fostering conditions conducive to the early retirement and repurposing of coal plants. Co-written with NewClimate Institute, this report highlights the challenges associated with the early retirement of coal plants and examines public development banks' role in collaborating with national governments and power producers to support coal phase-out. 
  • 07/03/2024 Climate Report
    Caution on Co-firing, Retrofitting, and Carbon Credits for Retirement: Considerations for Public Development Banks on Coal Phase-out Risks
    With their historical role in funding coal capacity and public mandate, public development banks have a crucial role in enabling coal phase-out. Co-written with NewClimate Institute, this short paper explores many of the risks associated with proposals for abatement technologies and carbon credits as an input to current discussions on early coal retirement. 
  • 29/02/2024 Blog post
    European certification framework: a high-quality outline that does not guarantee the value of the final picture
    The European co-legislators have just reached an agreement on the content of the future European Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). Negotiations were swift and fruitful, against a backdrop of a general step back in the adoption of the various Green Deal texts. While today sees environmental issues played off against farmer's livelihoods, this draft regulation brings these two elements together to create the conditions for investment in the transition of agriculture and forestry sectors. However, several details still need to be clarified to ensure that this framework actually enables effective and ambitious climate financing.
  • 23/02/2024 Foreword of the week
    European climate investments must double to hit 2030 EU targets
    This week, I4CE launches the first European Climate Investment Deficit report. During a year’s research, we analysed investments in 22 sectors of the EU27 economy that are critical for the EU to deliver its 2030 climate and energy security objectives. The European Green Deal is gaining economic momentum, as climate investments in the EU grew 9% in 2022, reaching […]
  • 21/02/2024 Climate Report
    European Climate Investment Deficit report: an investment pathway for Europe’s future
    Climate investments in the EU economy grew by 9% in 2022. This report finds that the European Green Deal is gaining economic momentum but investments in modernising energy, transport, and buildings must still double for the EU to hit 2030 climate targets.
  • 19/02/2024 Climate Report
    Landscape of Climate Finance in France – Edition 2023
    I4CE's Landscape of Climate Finance is an overview of climate investments made by households, companies and public authorities. Such investments include retrofitting buildings, purchasing electric vehicles, installing renewable energy, as well as paying for rail, cycling and urban public transport infrastructure.
  • 16/02/2024 Foreword of the week
    Mobilising banks in the transition: supervisors must have better use of risk management
    The European Union is continuing its efforts to ensure that the banking system takes climate change into account. Banks will have to draw up a "transition plan", according to the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) guidelines that are out for consultation until April.  One could hope that the banking authorities would seize this opportunity to encourage banks to better finance the transition, since their voluntary commitments are not sufficient. But the EBA does not make it a clear objective.
  • 14/02/2024 Climate Report
    Connecting the dots between climate risk management and transition finance
    A report to clarify linkages between these two approaches to climate action for the financial sector. The mobilization of the sector is necessary to help to finance the low-carbon transition. Some stakeholders thus advocate the explicit mobilization of the sector in favor of financing the transition. This rationale for action is known as the “transition finance approach”. The sector is also exposed to the financial risks arising from climate change and the necessary transition. This observation motivates a rationale for action known as te “risk approach”, aimed at managing the exposure of financial institutions to such risks.
  • 08/02/2024 Climate Report
    Money, money, money: Financing plans for the climate transition
    France should publish mid-year its first multi-annual strategy for financing the ecological transition. This is a long way from the first 2015 climate strategy, which barely touched funding aspects. And it is good news. We at I4CE believe that such plans are essential tools to support the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient economies. Credible, multi-year public spending targets help to embark the private sector and the funders of public action (debt holders, international donors) in the transition, and redirect financial flows as demanded by the Paris Agreement. Comprehensive financing plans also avoid simplistic approaches based on case-by-case project appraisal on the basis of limited cost-benefit considerations, which can ultimately result in significant additional costs.
  • 26/01/2024 Foreword of the week
    Failing to plan is planning to fail: Prudential transition plans and European Banking Authority consultation
    After nearly 4 years of negotiations, the European Union has just reached an agreement to reform the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) for banks. The inclusion of climate change is a major step forward: banks will have to draw up prudential transition plans, supervised by the European Central Bank. These plans will complement the European regulatory architecture that is being put in place for large companies, with the Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Due Diligences Directive (CSDD). Are these banking transition plans a sufficient breakthrough to finally commit banks to climate neutrality? The answer to this question will depend on the implementation of EU legislation.
  • 25/01/2024 Climate Brief
    Prudential transition plans: what’s next after the adoption of the Capital Requirements Directive?
    The European Union has just adopted the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and introduced a new feature: transition plans will now integrate prudential regulations. This paper looks at the major opportunity represented by prudential transition plans and the decisive role that the European Banking Authority will play. It explains why the Authority should adopt a comprehensive definition of banking transition plans and how these plans should be consistent with the European directives on Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSRD) and on Due Diligences (CSDDD).
  • 12/01/2024 Foreword of the week
    In 2024, fewer wishes, and more financing plans for the ecological transition
    The Global Stocktake at COP28 in Dubai marked the start of a cycle for reviewing governments’ decarbonization trajectories. The cycle will end at COP30 in Brazil at the end of 2025, and 2024 will hopefully show progress in the ambition of these trajectories. We equally hope that this renewed ambition will be accompanied by a reflection on the financing plans for national low-carbon trajectories, covering the amounts and evolution over time of domestic and international resources, and the respective roles of the private and public sectors. Because simply put, a low-carbon transition with no associated financing plan is not a transition, it is mere wishful thinking.
  • 08/12/2023 Foreword of the week
    Private finance: it’s time to rethink the European strategy
    There is a broad consensus that private finance has an important role to play in financing the climate transition, given the scale of needs and the constraints on public finances. Beyond investments in climate alone, all financial activities must be reoriented to be compatible with the transition. This shift cannot take place on a voluntary basis at the scale and speed required. The inactivity of financial players, the weight of past financing, and the demands of shareholder profitability limit the effectiveness of voluntary international initiatives to which private financial players commit themselves.
  • 05/12/2023 Climate Report
    For an articulated approach to economic policy and financial regulation to deal with climate challenges
    The net-zero transition, i.e. the transformation towards a carbon-neutral and resilient economy, is a major and urgent challenge for reducing the effects of climate change. This transformation requires the transition and adaptation of all activities and all economic agents. It is first and foremost a matter for the real economy and must be based on an operational roadmap of actions to be taken. This must be defined by an ambitious economic policy (budgetary, fiscal, monetary, regulation of products and sectors, etc.).
  • 01/12/2023 Foreword of the week
    COP28 : It’s money time !
    COP28 in Dubai kicks off amidst a worrying climate backdrop. For the first time, the threshold of a 2°C temperature rise compared to the pre-industrial era was exceeded in one day. In addition, a report published by the UN this week warns that current policies are placing the planet on a warming trajectory of 2.9°C, and that the chances of maintaining the increase at +1.5°C are now of only 14%. The results of the first Global Stocktake, a worldwide assessment of the actions taken by countries since the Paris Agreement, will be published at the COP and should confirm the urgent need to change the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions. 
  • 01/12/2023 Special issues
    Climate change and residential real estate: what are the risks for the banking sector?
    Residential real estate in France is a key target for transition policies, and a the sector is highly exposed to climate risks. With While housing home loans accounting for almost 85% of outstanding household loans in France, it is legitimate to ask how climate risks are passed on from the real estate sector to banks. This article, written with the Banque de France, explores investigates the exposure of residential real estate to present and future climate risks - present and future - and as well as their transmission to bank the lending activities of the banking sector.
  • 29/11/2023 Blog post
    Climate finance: multiplying the numbers will not solve the equation alone
    Much of the discussions at COP28 will focus on the 100 billion USD/year target decided at Copenhagen to support climate investments in the Global South, and on the new climate finance goal set to replace it. But, whilst keeping our eyes on the volumes laid on the table, we also need to look more into the impact of every dollar spent. Identifying and building on the value added of every actor in the economy is essential to avoid overlaps and maximise synergies. Three types of actors have a pivotal role to play in the paradigm shift: governments, public financial institutions and private financial institutions.

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