Ensuring Sustainable Markets and Finance in 2020
With a wide array of activities and tailored services, CSR Europe will support companies to understand the latest trends and policy shifts on sustainable and climate finance, materiality, non-financial disclosure. We will help your company to strengthen its approach to Responsible Tax for the new decade and have a better dialogue with investors. Discover how you can engage with us in 2020.
“[2020] will be critical to mainstreaming sustainable finance’ stated Mark Carney of the Bank of England, who launched the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2015 together with Michael Bloomberg. ‘Now is the time to ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account’, recognised Carney. For that change to happen, we need to focus on the three Rs – reporting, risk management and return. In Europe, the sustainable finance action plan and EU Green deal now firmly involve our finance and policy partners and colleagues in sustainability.
In 2020, CSR Europe will take a deep dive into the changing face of disclosure. How? Adopting a ‘Total Impact Disclosure’ approach to enhance social, environmental, climate and tax disclosure through serious materiality assessment involving relevant stakeholders. In doing so, companies and investors will prepare the field for impactful investments.
we will continue our collaboration with the European Investment Bank to bring members, investors and financial companies together to increase our collective learning and make bolder steps towards companies’ transparency and disclosure. Key events will take place in:
We will also start to develop CSR Europe’s vision for the EU Non-financial Reporting Directive 2.0 and the EU Action plan on sustainable Finance 2.0. The EU webinar “Action Plan on Sustainable Finance 2.0” in July will bring to members the latest updates on the topic and analyse how these measures will impact their sustainability management processes and performance. We will also provide updates on the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) Labs work.
Make CFOs the top ambassador of your financial and sustainability performance.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is instrumental in binding the financial and non-financial aspects in one common strategy to unleash the long-term value of the company. For the successful roll out of your company’s sustainability strategy, it is essential that your sustainability team works hand in hand with your finance team.
At the EIB-CSR Europe workshop in November 2019, members and financial experts discussed the need for putting the ‘F’ in disclosure. Companies have to connect Finance to the strategy, business model and non-financial reporting. A financial commitment demonstrates how serious a company is about their future sustainability. In other words, what their viability as a company will be. It is not enough to look at risk alone, as a company has to demonstrate how they are going to finance solutions and create opportunities in the transition. In autumn, CSR Europe aims to co organise with partners an event to take a deeper look at the role of finance in the sustainability strategy and vice versa. If your company wishes to learn more or offer inputs for our programme, please contact Paula Byrne.
Responsible Tax: Get the basics Right.
There can be significant reputational risk associated to what is perceived as aggressive tax planning. Tax disclosure is getting the basics right in a sustainable and responsible company. Value creation and financial risk mitigation are two common criteria used by companies to manage tax in a responsible way. CEOs and CFOs dislike uncertainty and difficulty when quantifying risks - and every business understands such a cost-benefit analysis. Companies that are well prepared, understand where to make a difference and identify potential issues.
Since 2016 CSR Europe has tackled the issue and published the Blueprint for Responsible and Transparent Tax Behaviour in 2019. We are now actively helping companies to build a responsible and transparent tax strategy following a three step-approach based on:
Re-alignment of CSR and Tax departments often incl. finance internally
Removal of the tax taboo
Raise tax responsibility maturity and ease of disclosure
Join us for more up to date analysis, trends and tips on Responsible Tax Behaviour webinars in April and October.
For more information: