Sustainaweekly: Implications of changes to EU taxonomy
We are pleased to launch the first edition of our new weekly publication. This publication aims to give a broad overview of developments in the ESG universe, from economic and strategy themes, ESG bonds and policy and regulation, to company and sector news.
Strategy Theme
The EC labelled natural gas and nuclear as transition fuels in the taxonomy. This will hardly lead to any support for financing of existing gas plants, but it does improve chances for nuclear. Implications for the ESG bond market are limited.
Economics Theme
We assess whether flood risk is already impacting house prices, in the case of the Netherlands. Our research findings are inconclusive but point towards current flood risks being not (fully) priced in to house valuations.
ESG Bonds
Corporate ESG issuance is booming, accounting for roughly 40% of all issues in the EUR IG space so far this year. The share of Bank ESG bonds has been stable this year, but that following a doubling last year.
Policy and Regulation
The EBA published technical standards for ESG disclosures of banks. We take a closer look at the standards, including two key metrics that need to be disclosed: The Green Asset Ratio and the Banking Book Taxonomy Alignment Ratio.
Company and Sector news
We review a recent report on the challenge of the EC’s policies on greening the built environment for existing buildings, especially in the residential sector.
ESG in figures
In a regular section of our weekly, we present a chart book on some of the key indicators for ESG financing and the energy transition.