European sustainable finance: introductory notes on the EU green deal and new green finance perspectives

Abstract

This work starts by analysing the main features of the EU Green Deal and then delves deeper into one specific workstream of this master plan: sustainable finance (green finance). The initial objective is to highlight the importance of the linkage between climate change and environmental laws and regulations with the field of banking and finance law in general, but our primary aim is to analyse what can be done to support the EU Green Deal in its segment of sustainable finance, and how a modern, comprehensive and forward-looking approach can decisively foster it. This work analyses the subject of green finance, underscores the importance of the creation of robust EU Green Standards, provides a snapshot of the current (market-driven) regulation on green finance, elaborates on the need of engaging all stakeholders in the quest and introduces the new trend of sustainability-linked lending.