Sustainability and climate risk: Capital as the ultimate tool for leveraging the financial sector?

Bozena Gulija

This article reflects on the historical origins and evolution of the sustainability concept, and analyses the prevailing current approaches in order to raise some critical points and contribute to the discussion about the challenges ahead. Sustainability is a concern of crucial importance in our time and the financial system has an important role to play in delivering results in reaching this goal. In terms of climate risk, measures like disclosure requirements, environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings, risk management, internal assessments and supervisory review are already being implemented but with varied impacts. Therefore, this article aims to explore the global regulatory developments and different positions about the potential application of minimum capital requirements for climate risk.