Banca d'Italia cooperates with other authorities and institutions in the main international, European and national forums in order to promote the development of sustainable finance.
This page describes:
- objectives;
- International cooperation;
- cooperation in Europe;
- cooperation in Italy;
- dialogue with the financial system and the public.
ESG-related risks, and in particular climate-related risks, are global in nature. For this reason, a high degree of cooperation between all stakeholders is required to effectively combat climate change: governments, financial authorities, market participants and the public.
Central banks and supervisory authorities have launched a number of initiatives to assess these risks and discuss common measures to address them.
(i) the exchange of information on actions taken and lessons learnt; (ii) the analyses of common issues and of regulatory and market developments; and (iii) the identification of policy actions, rules and best practices for the management of climate-related and sustainability risks.
Banca d'Italia takes part in:
- G20: by joining in the Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG). The group has developed a roadmap to support sustainable finance through specific lines of action that are monitored over time. Moreover, Banca d'Italia is part of the G20 Data Gap Initiative III (G20 DGI-III), which aims to close gaps in data on environmental sustainability.
- Network for Greening the Financial System: the Bank takes part in all workstreams of the global network of more than 130 central banks, supervisory authorities and financial institutions that have the common goal of promoting climate risk management and the development of finance through institutional (monetary policy and micro- and macroprudential supervision) and support functions (investment, business operations, reporting).
- G7: at the level of the finance track; in the context of the Italian Presidency of the G7, Banca d'Italia and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) co-chair the Climate Change Mitigation Working Group (CCMWG).
- Financial Stability Board (FSB): at the level of working groups to assess climate-related risks and their impact on financial stability, following a dedicated roadmap. In particular, the working groups focus on defining reporting standards, assessing data availability, analysing vulnerabilities of the financial system, and monitoring existing regulatory and supervisory practices.
- Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS): at the level of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks (TFCR), which discusses the treatment of climate-related financial risks in the context of the regulatory, supervisory and reporting frameworks.
For more information:
BIS - Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)
G20 Sustainable finance working group
Banca d'Italia takes part in:
- Eurosystem: at the level of the bodies that define the strategy for:
- managing climate-related risks in institutional operations (e.g. the Monetary Policy Committee and the Market Operations Committee - MPC);
- ensuring the readiness of individual intermediaries and of the financial system as a whole to addressing climate-related and sustainability risks (e.g. Single Supervisory Board).
- European System of Central Banks (ESCB): al Working Group on Securities (WG-SEC) e all' Expert Group Climate Change and Statistics (EG CCS). I gruppi stanno elaborando, rispettivamente, gli indicatori sperimentali del SEBC sulle emissioni e detenzioni di titoli "green" e quelli analitici e armonizzati sull'esposizione al rischio fisico e di transizione degli intermediari finanziari. Gli indicatori di finanza sostenibile e sui rischi climatici sono diffusi sul sito internet della BCE (ESCB Climate change indicators).
In order to address the challenges of sustainability, at the end of 2022 Italy set up the national Platform on Sustainable Finance, a group for regulatory coordination established by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and including the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE), Banca d'Italia, Consob, IVASS and Covip. The Platform's work is divided among four working groups of which two address the topic of sustainable data gaps, one looks at sustainability reporting for SMEs, and the last is on reducing the protection gap in insurance for climate-related and environmental risks.
The Italian Natural Capital Committee was set up in 2015 to delve deeper into the topics of natural capital and the risk of biodiversity loss. Banca d'Italia participates in this committee and contributes to the drafting of the Report on the Status of Natural Capital in Italy.
To raise financial system participants' awareness of the importance of integrating climate-related risks in their investment and saving decisions, Banca d'Italia takes part in and organizes conferences (e.g. on credit risk and climate-related risks) and seminars (e.g. on the transition to electric cars) on issues related to sustainable finance and the climate-related transition. In this context, Banca d'Italia cooperates with various universities and research centres (e.g. Centro Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici).
For more information:
MEF - National Platform on Sustainable Finance
Report on the Status of Natural Capital in Italy
L'Economia per tutti - Banca d'Italia's financial education website
