Geldscheine

Present developments at national and European level

At European level, efforts are being made to harmonise concepts and classification systems and to strengthen the area of sustainable finance.

Not only is the revision of the Austrian Ecolabel criteria currently underway, but there are also a number of other developments at national and European level. What all initiatives have in common is that they are intended to strengthen the area of sustainable finances. At the European level, there is also the endeavour to create a standardisation of terms and classification systems.

In Austria's current climate and energy strategy, mission2030, Lighthouse 8 - Green Finance is to be mentioned: In a development process involving various stakeholders, the aim here is to sound out the hurdles and opportunities of a financial system geared towards sustainability and to examine a government green bond.


At European level, a legislative package on green finance is currently being negotiated, comprising three different regulations.

  1. Two different benchmarks are intended to provide standardised comparability and increased transparency and serve as a reference for sustainability funds. One benchmark is designed along the Paris climate targets ("EU Paris-aligned benchmark"), the other benchmark along a transition path to them ("climate transition benchmark").
  2. Among other things, the disclosure regulation regulates which thematic aspects relating to sustainability must be published by financial market players (e.g. integration of ESG criteria).
  3. The taxonomy can be identified as the core of the package, as it is nothing other than an attempt to categorise economic activities along six different environmental objectives (e.g. climate protection or protection of healthy ecosystems). In the taxonomy, for each objective there will be a set of economic activities with technical criteria (e.g. CO2 per tonne of cement produced) that must be met in order for the respective economic activity to be classified as sustainable. An economic activity classified as sustainable must make a substantial contribution to at least one objective, but at the same time must not significantly endanger any other of the five objectives.

Two different standards are based on the taxonomy:

  1. The EU Green Bond Standard sets criteria and framework conditions for Green Bonds, which are intended to reduce barriers in this sector, promote green investments and establish credibility.
  2. By means of an EU-wide EU Ecolabel for financial products, a uniform label based on the taxonomy is to be created, which is to be awarded to green funds and serve as an orientation for consumers.

All the developments mentioned are currently in different phases: For example, the first parts of the taxonomy (on climate protection and climate change adaptation) are to be published at the end of 2019, the EU Green Bond Standard is also conceptually complete, while the development of the EU Ecolabel will not be completed until 2021.