Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney has been appointed as one of the NGO representatives to the new European Commission High Level Group on Sustainable Finance, convened to “help develop an overarching and comprehensive EU strategy on sustainable finance to integrate sustainability in EU financial policy.”
The Group is comprised of 20 members drawn from NGO’s with experience in sustainable finance and policy development, pension funds, institutional investors and other financial organisations involved in green finance sustainability analysis.
Formation of the Expert Group was decided by the Commission on September 14th as a new priority in the Capital Markets Union (CMU) reform process.
Christian Thimann, Group Head of Strategy, Sustainability and Public Affairs at AXA, has been appointed as Chairperson. Mr Thimann has recently served as Vice-Chair of the Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (FSB-TCFD).
The Group will work in two six month phases, initially examining a range of issues around green finance and then developing an integrated roadmap and prioritisation of possible measures that can be addressed through public policy, market measures or NGO/agency activities.
European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis:.jpg)
"We are committed to promoting sustainable finance in Europe. In appointing the members of our high level expert group, we have drawn on the best talent and expertise there is. They will ensure our approach to sustainable finance is ambitious and at the forefront of innovation. They will help us hardwire sustainability into EU financial policy."
Composition of the High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance:
Expert | Title | Organisation | Stakeholder group |
BECKER, Julie | Member of Executive Committee | Luxembourg Stock Exchange | Finance |
BILLING, Magnus | CEO | ALECTA | Finance |
CANFIN, Pascal | CEO | WWF France | Civil society |
DUPRE, Stan | CEO | 2° Investment Initiative | Civil society |
FISHER, Paul | Senior Associate | University of Cambridge | Academic |
GROSZEK, Mieczyslaw | Vice President | Polish Bank Association | Finance (banks) |
HARRIS, David | Head Sustainable Business and Director of ESG | London Stock Exchange Group | Finance |
HOLMES, Ingrid | Director | E3G | Civil society |
HUSSON-TRAORE, Anne-Catherine | CEO | NOVETHIC | Research |
KIDNEY, Sean | CEO | Climate Bonds Initiative | Civil society |
KIVISAARI, Esko | Deputy Managing Director | Federation of Finnish Financial Services | Finance |
KRUSE, Claudia | Managing Director, | APG Asset Management | Finance |
MATTISON, Richard | CEO | TRUCOST (S&P Global) | Finance (ratings/analytics) |
McCarthy, Arlene | Special Advisor to the Chairman, Bloomberg | AMC Strategy | Finance (data/analytics) |
MICILOTTA, Flavia | Executive Director | EUROSIF | Civil society |
SCHMIDT, Michael | Board Member | DEKA Investment | Finance |
THIMANN, Christian (Chairperson) | Group Head of Regulation, Sustainability and Insurance Foresight | AXA | Finance (insurance) |
VANDER STICHELE, Myriam | Senior Researcher | SOMO | Civil society (Research) |
WAYGOOD, Steve | Chief Responsible Investment Officer | AVIVA investors | Finance (insurance) |
ZAOUATI, Philippe | CEO | MIROVA | Finance |
The Last Word
Convening of the Expert Group follows release of the EC Clean Energy for all Europeans November 30th policy package and the December 2nd Green Bond Finance for Resource-Efficient Investmentsreport that signalled policy directions to help accelerate green finance.
A positive trio of announcements from Europe to round off the year with. The Expert Group has its first meeting later this month; we’ll keep you appraised of developments.
Till next time,
Climate Bonds Communications
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