[ad_1]
Written by Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union may need to do more to channel private finance into sustainable investments or risk missing out on its net-zero economy target, a new government official said. This was laid out in an EU discussion paper on Tuesday.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive committee, said in an informal consultation document that the bulk of the financing for the low-carbon transition needs to come from private sources.
“While we are seeing some promising concrete results on the ground in terms of funding flowing into activities that support the decarbonization of the economy, it remains to be seen whether current trends will be sufficient to achieve long-term goals. is unclear,” the document says.
We may need to think of new ways to encourage investment in the sectors that can make the biggest difference.
“Greater efforts may be needed to better channel and scale up the impact of private finance,” it added, without elaborating as it sought the views of member countries. .
There was no immediate comment from the European Commission.
The bloc already has classifications and guidelines for sustainable investing, rules for green bonds used to finance socially responsible investments, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements for companies to help investors. etc. have been introduced.
These rules will continue to be fine-tuned to apply broadly across the economy, the European Commission said in a consultation document for EU member states on its work program for a new five-year term starting later this year. Stated.
The UK has already begun taking steps to encourage insurance companies and pension funds to engage in sustainable investing.
The EU document also raised concerns about the “structural challenges” facing the financial services industry.
Despite years of reforms to create the Capital Markets Union, few market participants operate beyond domestic markets.
The document said national differences in market infrastructure, supervision and enforcement, taxation and insolvency laws appear to be “preventing companies from taking advantage of the potential of the EU single market”.
It asks EU countries for their views on tackling barriers to integration in some areas of financial services.
The EU this month approved legislation to end over-reliance on euro derivatives clearing in London post-Brexit.
As Brexit creates a major competitor for the EU, Brussels could end “over-reliance” on third-country providers that could “reduce the EU’s geopolitical weight” in the financial sector I would like to identify.
(Reporting by Hugh Jones; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
[ad_2]
Source link
