Climate and Environmental Risk management in Italian banks

Climate risk, in the broader context of environmental risk, is recently increasingly interesting the banking sector and consequently the ABI activities: it is a new risk driver but also a key path for new opportunities. The ABI BusinEsSG 2019 survey collected information about the integration in the banking business (e.g. strategies, policies, risk management) of the Esg dimension - Environmental, Social, Governance. Even in prudential supervision, the sustainable finance is in the agenda, as demonstrated by the Eba Action Plan. One of the 6 proposals of the EBF report «Encouraging and Rewarding Sustainability - Accelerating sustainable finance in the banking sector» to which ABI contributed, concerns prudential regulation: it is the risk driven prudential measure called Sustainable Finance Supporting Factor. For a more widespread and advanced climate and environmental risk management, investments in adequate databases, methodologies, research and training are necessary and the right mix of long-term proactive measures and actions to be taken in the short term must be realised by banks , supervisors and counterparties.