The integration of sustainability in finance has gotten new drivers that are speeding up the entire process while also shifting the overall direction. Having migrated from being a fringe element in the finance space to becoming more mainstream, sustainable finance is set to become a need-to-have rather than a nice-to-have. Legislators continue to work on the creation of new guidelines and laws (e.g. the EU Taxonomy on green assets) with the aim to increase sustainable finance. The creation of the Sustainable Finance Platform in Brussels will write and formalize the new rulebook on sustainable finance. This talk will discuss these developments (including the emergence of a ‘brown taxonomy’) and show what these will mean for the way business will be financed going forward.

Speaker: Maarten Biermans, Head of Sustainable Capital Markets Rabobank.