Financial climate risk regulation in the European Union

This factsheet summarizes the EU’s stance on the financial risk of climate change, provides key background to the EU’s sustainable finance agenda, notes key regulatory players and highlights recent and upcoming regulatory action applicable to financial markets.

Since establishing the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG) in 2016, the European Union (EU) has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable finance. It has made rapid progress on integrating climate change into its financial sector, simultaneously addressing it from several angles, including risk disclosure, green bond labels, a taxonomy for adaptation and mitigation and risk management oversight directives.

As global financial actors operate, and are regulated, in Europe, EU regulations are likely to propel a development in best practices for addressing climate risk that reaches beyond the EU. Likewise, regulators and financial actors across the world are watching carefully as EU regulation may influence their own action.