The 2023 IFR ESG Roundtable took place on Tuesday June 20, 2023. The event was split into two 60-minute online panels:
Panel 1 was titled The Energy Transition: Financing New Technologies. Moderated by IFR’s ESG Editor, Tessa Walsh, it looked at the ways in which sustainable finance will support the energy transition in 2023; the innovations required to fund new technologies, business models and asset classes; and whether there is enough liquidity to finance the transition. View it on-demand here.
Panel 2 - Reshaping Public-Sector ESG Capital Markets in the GBS Era - was moderated by IFR’s Associate Editor for Green/ESG Financing, Julian Lewis. This panel looked at the principal drivers of issuance for the key sovereigns, supranational and agencies sector; how these prominent borrowers are shaping their funding strategies across green, social and sustainable bonds; and the ways in which SSA issuers are responding to the EU's Green Bond Standard. View the discussion here.
As the world continues to accelerate its efforts towards realising net-zero aspirations, environmental, social and governance considerations are becoming increasingly important to all business operations around the globe.
In June, IFR held its 2023 ESG Roundtable to discuss the pressing topics of energy transition, financing new technology and the reshaping of public sector ESG capital markets in the new Green Bonds Standard era. The event was split into two 60-minute online panels.
The public sector panel was moderated by IFR’s associate editor for Green/ESG financing, Julian Lewis, and looked at the principal drivers of issuance for the key sovereign, supranational and agencies sector; how these prominent borrowers are shaping their funding strategies across green, social and sustainable bonds; and the ways in which SSA issuers are responding to the EU’s GBS.
Europe’s public sector borrowers have been key to sustainable finance instruments becoming readily accepted in the mainstream debt markets. They continue to play a major role in the development of the market, promoting green finance by aligning frequent borrowing to green and social principles and working alongside regulators and market associations in defining the way forward. A large proportion of their overall funding is now linked to green and social projects and on-lending.
With that on-lending, they are also contributing to spreading the sustainability agenda through the entire economy. There is an additional financial incentive for their clients to join the transition journey, with any greenium picked up on the debt passed to SMEs that fulfil their sustainability criteria.
Regulators are developing taxonomies to improve the definitions, transparency and standardisation that help investors – and borrowers – make informed decisions. The EU Taxonomy and GBS are setting the direction of travel for European sustainable finance markets, even though there are areas of ambiguity and a dearth of relevant and reliable data. That is not deterring the region’s public sector borrowers from trying their best to align operations to the taxonomy already and working to close any gaps.
The roundtable discussion began with IFR’s Green/ESG financing editor, Tessa Walsh, moderating a panel that looked at the ways in which sustainable finance will support energy transition; the innovations required to fund new technologies, business models and asset classes; and whether there is enough liquidity to finance the transition.
Sustainable finance may have moved into the mainstream in recent years but work still needs to be done to ensure capital is channelled into the areas that best help companies realise their net-zero ambitions – particularly in the energy sector and in relation to the new technology to wean the world away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
The session started with panellists Eric Bonnin, a managing director in Societe Generale’s energy advisory and structured finance division; Elise Beaufils, deputy head of sustainable research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers; and Anthony Catachanas, managing partner of Victory Hill Capital Partners discussing their approach to energy transition and the risks associated with financing new, emerging technologies.
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