Publications

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is clarifying how the banks should frame their “transition plan” as required by the EU prudential regulation. The transition plan is the bank’s strategic roadmap to prepare for the transition to a sustainable economy as framed by the jurisdictions they operate in, including an EU climate-neutral economy. It has been introduced in several EU regulatory frameworks, including as a disclosure requirement arising from the CSRD. The prudential framework and the EBA are focusing on a specific angle: how the banks plan to manage their financial risks related to the transition. EBA’s framing of these plans will be key to determine whether the banks will manage their financial risks consistently with the broader need of financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. 

At the Spring Meetings, during an event with senior climate representatives from Multilateral Development Banks, I4CE, E3G, Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute officially launched a common position paper on what ambitous Paris alignment means for public development banks. This paper summarises years of research on Paris alignment to shed light on best practice and hopefully support decision makers in taking and implementing credible climate commitments. 

After a first step in 2022, the Basel Committee on Banking supervision is finally moving towards regulation for climate-related risks. Founded in 1974, this forum brings together financial supervisors of the G20 countries and establishes the common standards for financial stability. Two years ago, the Committee published a consultative document on the principles of climate […]

Public development banks have the potential to facilitate the transition from coal to renewable alternatives in developing and emerging countries by fostering conditions conducive to the early retirement and repurposing of coal plants. Co-written with NewClimate Institute, this report highlights the challenges associated with the early retirement of coal plants and examines public development banks' role in collaborating with national governments and power producers to support coal phase-out. 

With their historical role in funding coal capacity and public mandate, public development banks have a crucial role in enabling coal phase-out. Co-written with NewClimate Institute, this short paper explores many of the risks associated with proposals for abatement technologies and carbon credits as an input to current discussions on early coal retirement. 

Climate investments in the EU economy grew by 9% in 2022. This report finds that the European Green Deal is gaining economic momentum but investments in modernising energy, transport, and buildings must still double for the EU to hit 2030 climate targets.

I4CE's Landscape of Climate Finance is an overview of climate investments made by households, companies and public authorities. Such investments include retrofitting buildings, purchasing electric vehicles, installing renewable energy, as well as paying for rail, cycling and urban public transport infrastructure.

A report to clarify linkages between these two approaches to climate action for the financial sector. The mobilization of the sector is necessary to help to finance the low-carbon transition. Some stakeholders thus advocate the explicit mobilization of the sector in favor of financing the transition. This rationale for action is known as the “transition finance approach”. The sector is also exposed to the financial risks arising from climate change and the necessary transition. This observation motivates a rationale for action known as te “risk approach”, aimed at managing the exposure of financial institutions to such risks.

France should publish mid-year its first multi-annual strategy for financing the ecological transition. This is a long way from the first 2015 climate strategy, which barely touched funding aspects. And it is good news. We at I4CE believe that such plans are essential tools to support the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient economies. Credible, multi-year public spending targets help to embark the private sector and the funders of public action (debt holders, international donors) in the transition, and redirect financial flows as demanded by the Paris Agreement. Comprehensive financing plans also avoid simplistic approaches based on case-by-case project appraisal on the basis of limited cost-benefit considerations, which can ultimately result in significant additional costs.

The European Union has just adopted the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and introduced a new feature: transition plans will now integrate prudential regulations. This paper looks at the major opportunity represented by prudential transition plans and the decisive role that the European Banking Authority will play. It explains why the Authority should adopt a comprehensive definition of banking transition plans and how these plans should be consistent with the European directives on Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSRD) and on Due Diligences (CSDDD).

The net-zero transition, i.e. the transformation towards a carbon-neutral and resilient economy, is a major and urgent challenge for reducing the effects of climate change. This transformation requires the transition and adaptation of all activities and all economic agents. It is first and foremost a matter for the real economy and must be based on an operational roadmap of actions to be taken. This must be defined by an ambitious economic policy (budgetary, fiscal, monetary, regulation of products and sectors, etc.).

Residential real estate in France is a key target for transition policies, and a the sector is highly exposed to climate risks. With While housing home loans accounting for almost 85% of outstanding household loans in France, it is legitimate to ask how climate risks are passed on from the real estate sector to banks. This article, written with the Banque de France, explores investigates the exposure of residential real estate to present and future climate risks - present and future - and as well as their transmission to bank the lending activities of the banking sector.

What are the carbon taxes and markets around the world, the range of carbon prices, the revenues generated, the emissions covered by these mechanisms? Find the answers to these questions, and many more, in the new edition of the Global Carbon Accounts from I4CE.

Achieving carbon neutrality will require the redirection of harvested wood towards long-life uses. To achieve carbon neutrality, France is relying on its carbon sink to balance residual emissions in 2050. A smaller carbon sink would require even greater emissions reductions from other sectors (transport, agriculture, industry, etc.), sectors in which France is already calling for drastic sixfold cuts between 1990 and 2050. In a context where the carbon sink in ecosystems is already falling sharply due to an increase in tree mortality, preserving this sink and developing carbon storage in wood products must be a major concern of the national climate policy.

The issue of access to the transition for all households, in particular, for low- and middle-income households, has become central to the French public debate, as recently shown by the French President’s speech on ecological planning, when he referred to “an ecology that is accessible and fair, that leaves no one without a solution”. This growing awareness is particularly in response to the yellow vests protests: expecting households to take steps towards the transition if they have no access to solutions (electric cars, public transport, home insulation, heating upgrades) results in a rejection of transition policies and leads us collectively to a dead end

Time to take stock, 4 years after the first experiments   Report only available in French   A momentum for green budgeting is gaining ground within local authorities: In the space of four years, around a hundred of them have embarked on the green budgeting process or have plans to do so. This includes nearly […]

The European Union (EU) Innovation Fund is Europe’s largest fund for climate innovation. It has a keyrole to play in European climate action, energy security and technological leadership. To unleash the full potential of European cleantech, greater public support is needed to help more companies and projects cross the so-called “valleys of death” that are inherent to cleantech innovation and scale-up. In this endeavour, relying solely on national public funds would create two risks. In countries where governments do not rise to the financing challenge, innovators will fail or flee. Conversely, governments with the fiscal means to spend big on cleantech may create a harmful subsidy race among EU member states, undermining EU solidarity and the integrity of the EU Single Market.

National budgets, as the main driver of public action, need to be ‘greened’ by governments to achieve the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient, and sustainable economies. That is, budgeting processes need to ensure sufficient funds are directed towards green activities and are directed away from environmentally harmful ones.

Local authorities have a major role to play in achieving France’s 2050 carbon neutrality objectives, as set out in the National Low-Carbon Strategy (Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone, SNBC). Due to their assets and areas of expertise, local authorities must make numerous climate investments, implement strategies and action plans, and take measures to encourage stakeholders within their territories. This study aims to estimate the cost of such climate action for local authorities. 

Industry: relocation and decarbonisation at the heart of the debate. The recent succession of crises (health, energy, geopolitical) and increased international competition have prompted France to look for ways to strengthen its industrial and energy sovereignty. It faces this challenge in addition to the challenge of decarbonising its industry. In this context, France and Europe are developing industrial policies with two objectives – relocation and decarbonisation – and with new tools such as the France 2030 plan and the Net Zero Industry Act at the European level. These policies target both ‘historical’ industries, such as steel and cement, and new clean technologies, from solar to batteries.