Skip to main content

Sustainable Finance: The Policy Framework

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainable Finance
  • 1320 Accesses

Abstract

Rather than tackling climate change, most governments are still subsidizing fossil fuels. The EU has taken a global lead on developing a legislative framework for sustainable finance that is introduced here, while developments in Japan and the US as also covered. The next section considers policy responses to the urgent need to put a price on carbon and make polluters pay. There is widespread agreement that addressing climate change means putting a rising price on carbon but no agreement on how best to achieve this, whether by agreeing on a carbon tax on a global basis—or within smaller communities of nations—through a carbon trading scheme. I explore a proposal to use the regulatory and legislative powers of policy-makers to eliminate unsustainable assets from the global economy. Finally, we explore how the financial system needs to change to address the biodiversity crisis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Rempel, A. and Gupta, J. (2020), ‘Conflicting Commitments? Examining Pension Funds, Fossil Fuel Assets and Climate Policy in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’, Energy Research and Social Science, 69, 101736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101736.

  2. 2.

    SEI, IISD, ODI, Climate Analytics, CICERO, and UNEP. (2019). ‘The Production Gap: The Discrepancy Between Countries’ Planned Fossil Fuel Production and Global Production Levels Consistent with Limiting Warming to 1.5 °C or 2 °C’, cited by Rempel and Gupta (2020).

  3. 3.

    https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets_en.

  4. 4.

    Laing, Timothy, Sato, Misato, Grubb, Michael and Comberti, Claudia (2014), ‘The Effects and Side-Effects of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme’, WIREs Climate Change, 5/4, 509–519. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.283.

  5. 5.

    Lapan, H.E. and Sikdar, S. (2019), ‘Is Trade in Permits Good for the Environment?’, Environmental Resource Economics, 72, 501–510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-017-0202-z.

  6. 6.

    https://citizensclimatelobby.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FeeAndDividend.CliveEllsworth.July2014-1.pdf.

  7. 7.

    Hirst, David (2018), BRIEFING PAPER Number 05927, 8 January 2018, Carbon Price Floor (CPF) and the price support mechanism, Briefing Paper no. 05927 (London: House of Commons Library). https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05927/SN05927.pdf.

  8. 8.

    Giles, Chris and Hook, Leslie (2020), ‘Zero Emissions Goal: The Mess of Britain’s Carbon Taxes’, Financial Times, 10 March.

  9. 9.

    Remarks by IMF Managing Director on Global Policies and Climate Change, International Conference on Climate, Venice, 11 July 2021. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/07/11/sp071121-md-on-global-policies-and-climate-change.

  10. 10.

    Scott Cato, Molly and Fletcher, Cory (2020), ‘Introducing Sell-by Dates for Stranded Assets: Ensuring an Orderly Transition to a Sustainable Economy’, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 10:4, 335–348.https://doi.org/10.1080/20430795.2019.1687206.

  11. 11.

    HLEG (2018), ‘Final Report 2018 by the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance’. Brussels: European Commission, p. 91.

  12. 12.

    Dasgupta, P. (2021), The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review (London: HM Treasury).

  13. 13.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55893696.

  14. 14.

    Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), Economy and Human Well-Being (Washington: World Resources Institute). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Molly Scott Cato .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Scott Cato, M. (2022). Sustainable Finance: The Policy Framework. In: Sustainable Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91578-0_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91578-0_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91577-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91578-0

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics