Jim and Jane Gimber, FH Brussels’ head of sustainability, discuss where the EU is going to find the money to finance its energy transition and climate ambitions.
The EU has set out to be a world leader in sustainable finance, creating a system of rules to try and identify what is green and what is not, and to make companies disclose how well they measure up.
Jim and Jane explore how the EU managed the rare feat of getting a word as clunky as “taxonomy” into popular usage. They also tackle the big question in sustainable finance: how can an agenda that is about saving the planet provoke so much controversy?
Some national governments and MEPs are having a hard time digesting the European Commission’s insistence that gas and nuclear energy can point the way to a greener future; plans to extend the concept of sustainable finance into the realm of social justice risk throwing up more conundrums.
The sustainable finance agenda has also taken on new dimensions following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. The energy transition is no longer purely about saving the planet from devastation, but also about saving Europe from dangerous dependencies on Russian fossil fuels.
Jim and Jane’s discussion zeroes in on the difficult choice now facing the EU: does it want its taxonomy system to simply set the gold standard for what is green, or to plot a route towards a greener future – a journey that involves gas and nuclear along the way.
Follow us on social and find out about new episodes:
Twitter @FleishmanEU
LinkedIn FleishmanHillard EU
Instagram FleishmanHillardEU
