In the consultation document, the European Commission sees a clear role for the financial sector to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient society, especially now that the Covid-19 crisis shows the critical need to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of our societies and the ways in which our economies function. 

Triodos Bank agrees with the Commission that a more sustainable financial system should contribute to mitigate existing and future risks to wildlife habitats and biodiversity in general, as well as support the prevention of pandemics. In our vision paper on food and agriculture we call for a complete change of the way food is produced, traded and consumed in order to provide food to the growing world population without severely damaging our planet, people’s health and social equality.

We fully support the Commission’s clear and ambitious target to achieve a zero-carbon economy.  We believe this target should be met well before 2050 and that implies a credible target for the EU in 2030: a 65% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to support the path to limit global warming to 1,5 degree Celsius, as underlined in the Green Deal published earlier this year. Triodos Bank has urged the financial sector to divest its fossil assets and in our vision paper on energy and climate we call on all financials to take a leading role to address the climate emergency.

We also support the ambition to accelerate the necessary transition in the financial system now. This will encourage the market to steer their money where it is needed most and where the European Union’s ambitions are best achieved, such as sustainable housing, continuous growth in renewable energy solutions, the hydrogen economy as a sustainable part of the energy system, and circular transition in food and agriculture.

The Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy, together with the Green Deal, will create jobs and enable workers to reskill if they are currently employed in non-sustainable and non-resilient industries, especially in light of the corona crisis.

We look forward to contribute to the execution of the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy, building on our 40 years’ experience of financing positive change. The consultation of the European Commission is open up to and including 15 July 2020.