JRC Summer School on Sustainable Finance

While policy actions to tackle climate change are being taken at an increasing pace, experts' perceptions suggest that risks associated with it, such as natural disasters and extreme weather events, are still the most impactful and the ones we're the least prepared to withstand.

Against this background, global and far-reaching disruptions occur with the potential to hamper or accelerate the so much needed Green transition. Geopolitical crises, coupled with the supply of energy, provide challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a sustainable economy. At the same time, new ways constantly arise to promote sustainable finance, such as digital technologies. Opportunities also arise from scaling-up sustainable finance in emerging and developing economies, where there may be limited financial resources and infrastructure. Finally, there is a pressing need for tools assessing relevant risks and their impacts.

For these reasons, this 5th JRC Summer School on Sustainable Finance aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss recent developments and innovations in the field of sustainable finance. By doing so, it exposes researchers to the most demanding issues faced by the industry and helps them produce policy-relevant research. At the same time, it provides independent scientific advice to policy, reaffirming the crucial role of research in informing policymaking.

Scientific evidence highlights the urgent need to scale up ambition to address the global most pressing priority: climate change and environmental degradation.

In that respect, by maintaining and increasing the momentum from past and ongoing policy actions, Europe shows its determination to deliver on its commitment to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Moving forward from the adoption by the European Commission of many fundamental regulations during the past years, various issues still need to be addressed; sustainability disclosures need to be enhanced, biodiversity loss needs to be reversed and related risks need to be better understood, among others.

These can be achieved by the collaborative engagement of all stakeholders, including financial market participants, and based on sound scientific evidence.

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Should you wish to receive information on the 2023 edition of the JRC Summer School on Sustainable Finance, please contact us at JRC-COPFIR@ec.europa.eu

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, social issues will become, if possible, even more pressing than before.

Science tells us that decisive action to fight climate change and environmental degradation cannot be postponed further.

Hence, we have no alternative but to work towards a sustainable recovery, which will make our society 'bounce forward' to a sustainable and more resilient development paradigm. The response to the COVID-19 crisis is an opportunity which we can't miss, and Europe is at the forefront of efforts to deliver on this.

In this context, ensuring a Just Transition and financing the European Green Deal - a pillar of Europe's Recovery Plan - are key policy priorities for the European Commission.

The Sustainable Finance Strategy is designed to provide a roadmap with new actions, to increase private investment in sustainable projects and activities.

This strategy can only be successfully implemented with the involvement of all stakeholders, including financial market participants, and based on sound scientific evidence.

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Policymakers need to react to the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.The challenge should not overshadow the goals of a more sustainable economy and society.

This 2^nd summer school intends to help policymakers in creating stimulus packages, which also help to achieve climate and other environmental and societal policy goals.

To this end, we promote the development of policy-relevant research and science-based policies.

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The Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development mark historical international commitments to a more sustainable economy and society.

In this context, the financial system has a key role to play.

While policy initiatives on sustainable finance are advancing at the European level, there is a strong need for sharing knowledge and experience on substantive sustainable finance issues.

To answer this need, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Community of Practice in Financial Research (CoPFiR) have organised the summer school on sustainable finance.

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