The European Union appeals to private investment in order to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050

The european commission adopted this Tuesday a series of measures aimed at involving the banking sector and the markets in the effort to direct hundreds of billions of euros towards sustainable investments, in order to achieve its goal of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

“Given that the magnitude of the investments required far exceeds the capacity of the public sector, the main objective of the sustainable financing framework is to channel private financial flows towards the relevant economic activities “, appointment Reuters to the executive branch of the community bloc.

The new strategy builds on an initiative taken by Brussels in 2018, which paved the way for the classification of truly green investments, while forcing companies to disclose their own information related to climate effects. Now, with this new decision, the EU member states will have to evaluate by June 2023 how their financial markets contribute to the achievement of the bloc’s objectives in this field.

Likewise, the commission intends to regulate a standardized use of EU green bonds, of a voluntary nature, with the objective to “help accumulate funds in the capital markets” and then invest them in ecological projects, as well as “protect investors from green wash“.

Meanwhile, the EU countries are divided over some peculiarities of its ambitious program. Thus, the issue of whether or not gas should be labelled how green is the subject of discussions: some countries consider yes, arguing that this will help to stop using coal, which is more polluting; while others cling to the idea that classify a fossil fuel as green it is an unreliable measure.