Finance Watch
@financewatch.bsky.social
860 followers 850 following 140 posts
Finance Watch is an independent non-profit association dedicated to reforming finance in the interest of citizens. www.finance-watch.org
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financewatch.bsky.social
📣 Ann Pettifor will be at the #FinanceforSociety Forum on 4 December in Brussels!

She has been a leading voice on finance & justice and will soon publish her new book The Global Casino on the hidden world of shadow banking.

Join us by registering today 👉 www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...
financewatch.bsky.social
📣 Ann Pettifor will be at the #FinanceforSociety Forum on 4 December in Brussels!
She has been a leading voice on finance & justice and will soon publish her new book The Global Casino on the hidden world of shadow banking.
Join us by registering today 👉 www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...
Reposted by Finance Watch
greencb.bsky.social
🏦 Banks had more than USD$1.1tn in exposures to fossil fuels on their balance sheets in 2023, a new report from @financewatch.bsky.social found.

That’s why there’s a need for a systemic climate risk buffer, said Julia Symon, one of the authors of the report.

Climate risk buffer needed to mitigate banks' climate change losses, says nonprofit
It’s been 10 years since Canadian prime minister Mark Carney made his landmark speech on the tragedy of the horizons when he was governor of the Bank of
greencb.co
financewatch.bsky.social
📣 ANNOUNCING the #FinanceforSocietyForum 2025!

As tensions rise with trade wars, inflation & regulatory rollbacks, academics and civil society must come together in support of resilient, just economies.

Save the date and register now 🎟️ www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...
financewatch.bsky.social
10 years after Carney’s “#TragedyOfTheHorizon” speech, the warning stands: climate risks remain unpriced, finance keeps fuelling the crisis. Disclosure isn’t enough – systemic reform is urgent: it's time for action. 🌍⏳

🔗 www.sustainableviews.com/tragedy-of-t...

#SafeTransition #BreakTheDoomLoop
Tragedy of the horizons a decade on: climate change threatens financial stability
Julia Symon is head of research and advocacy and Max Kretschmer is a press officer at Finance Watch How regulators can move beyond disclosure and adopt binding measures to force systemic reform of…
www.sustainableviews.com
Reposted by Finance Watch
finanzwende.de
🛢️ Neue Zahlen von @financewatch.bsky.social zu Kohle, Öl und Gas in den Büchern der weltweit größten Banken werfen die Frage auf: Hat #BaFin hierzulande solche Kredite und die damit verbundenen Risiken im Blick? Ein 🧵 (1/5)
Banken und Aufseher im (Klimakrisiko-) Blindflug
Banken und Aufseher im (Klimakrisiko-) Blindflug
www.finanzwende.de
financewatch.bsky.social
📖 Help Finance Watch by sharing this report to relevant policymaking, civil society and finance expert groups 👇 www.finance-watch.org/policy-porta...
#ClimateRisk #SafeTransition #BreakTheDoomLoop #FossilSubprimes #ClimateSystemicBuffer #CRR
www.finance-watch.org
financewatch.bsky.social
9/
It’s time for EU regulators to act – using their mandate in Article 501c of the Capital Requirements Regulation.

Let’s take early action for an orderly transition and a safer financial system.
financewatch.bsky.social
8/
✅ Small cost
✅ Massive societal benefit
✅ Competitive upside

What is Europe waiting for?

With every delay, more risk builds up in the system. A climate-triggered financial crisis is not hypothetical – it’s brewing.
financewatch.bsky.social
7/
So why the delay?

Policymakers fear losing banking competitiveness.

But here’s the twist: banks with more polluting loan books tend to have lower profits & valuations.

A #ClimateSystemicBuffer could boost EU bank competitiveness.
financewatch.bsky.social
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And contrary to fears, banks can easily fund the buffer from a modest, one-off period of profit retention spread over several years, without cutting lending at all.

📉Once phased in (as is routine), the impact on ROE would be small to negligible.
financewatch.bsky.social
5/
👉 That’s why Finance Watch proposes a climate systemic risk buffer.
A simpler, more targeted tool to:
🔹 Contain systemic risk buildup
🔹 Protect banks & taxpayers
🔹 End the $8.7B/year fossil fuel subsidy
🔹 Boost green financing
financewatch.bsky.social
4/
Stress tests, disclosures, risk models – all underestimate climate risks.

Why? They miss the scale, complexity, and non-linear nature of climate threats. Banks' models weren't built for this.

Markets are lulled into a false sense of security.
Read also www.finance-watch.org/policy-porta...
financewatch.bsky.social
3/
Since 2008, taxpayers know what happens when banks underestimate risk.

The good news? Financial regulators are working on it.
The bad news? ⚠️ Current tools and practices aren’t enough.
financewatch.bsky.social
2/
But it gets worse: those same fossil assets fuel climate destruction, increasing physical risks right across the financial system.
financewatch.bsky.social
1/
On the bumpy road to net-zero, fossil assets could suddenly lose value due to policy, tech, or market shifts.
That exposes banks to severe transition risks.
financewatch.bsky.social
🧵 New report: “A trillion dollars of climate risk” 📊🔥

Finance Watch’s latest research reveals the world’s 60 largest banks hold $1.1–1.6 trillion in fossil fuel exposures.
This creates a dangerous climate-finance feedback loop.

Let’s break it down 🧵👇
Reposted by Finance Watch
financewatch.bsky.social
To *truly* scale up sustainable investments, we need regulatory reforms that address the:

🔍 Limited transparency on the contribution to harm of certain activities
📖 Lack of consistent terminologies
💼 Short-termism in corporate decision making
🚦 Lack of harmonisation in supervision
financewatch.bsky.social
⚠️ EU financial chief Maria Luís Albuquerque said 'simpler' #SustainableFinance rules will attract more green capital to Europe.

But scaling back reporting & due diligence will undermine credibility and provide a false impression of meeting climate investment needs!

What she should do instead 👇
EU Financial Chief Sees ‘More Appealing’ Rules Luring ESG Money
Efforts to make the European Union’s financial regulations more attractive to investors would likely draw more green capital to the bloc, according to the EU’s financial services commissioner, Maria L...
www.bloomberg.com
financewatch.bsky.social
🌍 250+ scholars signed a statement calling to align #Omnibus reforms with climate science.

Finance Watch shares their concern for the future of sustainability policy in Europe. Efforts to to 'simplify regulations' should not come at the expense of the integrity & ambition of the EU's green rules!
Declaration of Copenhagen: business scholars warn EU ‘simplification’ risks climate goals, competitiveness
“Not a winning strategy for Europe.” Andreas Rasche, driving force behind the Declaration of Copenhagen signed by 250 scholars, tells EUobserver why rolling back EU green rules threatens both climate ...
euobserver.com
financewatch.bsky.social
"Welcome to the new consensus: where military spending could become the next frontier of so-called ‘sustainable’ finance."

To protect the integrity of the EU's sustainable finance framework, we must not mix defending sovereignty and investing sustainably. #KeepDefenceOut!
Why defence spending shouldn’t be labelled sustainable | Finance Watch
Welcome to the new consensus: where military spending could become the next frontier of so-called ‘sustainable’ finance.
www.finance-watch.org
financewatch.bsky.social
5/ If the biggest banks can manipulate the metrics used to set their capital buffers, those protections become meaningless.

Without meaningful buffers, the next shock won’t be absorbed by the banks.

And when the banks can’t cover their losses, you know who picks up the tab…