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Markus Demary / Adriana Neligan in Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies External Publication 22. January 2025 Financing the Sustainability Agenda

Financing the necessary innovations and investments for a successful decarbonisation in the EU is challenging. The main reasons are tighter banking regulations, increased bureaucracy for loan applications and portfolio reallocations away from carbon-intensive industries.

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Financing the Sustainability Agenda
Markus Demary / Adriana Neligan in Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies External Publication 22. January 2025

Financing the Sustainability Agenda

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Financing the necessary innovations and investments for a successful decarbonisation in the EU is challenging. The main reasons are tighter banking regulations, increased bureaucracy for loan applications and portfolio reallocations away from carbon-intensive industries.

In addition, there is the risk that government and corporate debt levels might become unsustainable. The EU has already put forward a green bond framework to finance decarbonisation. Yet a large part of the corporate sector, particularly the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, has no access to this financial instrument. The EU therefore still needs the right mixture of reforms to both unlock private lending and investment and ensure that they stay financially sustainable so that risks do not build up in the financial sector. This paper offers several recommendations for reforms to enhance the financing of such investments by strengthening and auditing EU funds, reinforcing incentives for the transformation and supporting European small and medium-sized enterprises.

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Financing the Sustainability Agenda
Markus Demary / Adriana Neligan in Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies External Publication 22. January 2025

Financing the Sustainability Agenda

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

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CO2 Regulation of Road Transport in Europe
Thomas Puls Expertise 1. July 2024

Compendium 5.5: CO2 Regulation of Road Transport in Europe

With the Compendium CO2 Regulation in Europe, the IW has been providing the interested public with a comprehensive collection of data on the development of CO2 emissions from passenger car traffic in the European Union, as well as on the applicable regulatory ...

IW

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Markus Demary / Adriana Neligan in Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies External Publication 24. April 2024

Financing the Sustainability Agenda

The EU has set legally binding targets for climate-neutrality by 2050. To succeed in the transition to a low-carbon economy, companies need to continuously develop new and improved climate-friendly technologies, and to adopt or move towards low-carbon business ...

IW

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