Finance as a fundamental tool to accompany businesses towards achieving the UN objectives of the 2030 Agenda. A discussion on the evolution of European legislation on sustainable finance and its impact on businesses and the focus on the role of public and private finance (sustainable ) within the Next generation EU and the Pnrr (National Recovery and Resilience Plan). These are the two tracks on which, as part of the Festival of Sustainable Development 2021, the national event “Companies facing the objectives of the 2030 Agenda: the new challenges of European regulation and Next Generation EU” took place, organized from ASviS, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development.
The acceleration of the Action plan on sustainable finance
We discussed the new evidence of European regulation with reference to the development of the relationship between companies and financial markets, and on the other hand, the relationship between companies and public administration. The action plan on sustainable finance has experienced an acceleration lastly with the redefinition of the “Strategy to finance the transition to a sustainable economy” approved on 6 July 2021, and even earlier with the evolution of the Regulation on the taxonomy of sustainable activities and related delegated acts, of the EU Regulation on sustainability reporting in the financial services sector, of the European Green Bond Regulation and with the introduction of the assessment of customer sustainability preferences in the delegated acts adopted pursuant to MiFID II and the directive on insurance distribution, as well as the prospect of the revision of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive with the enlargement of the number of companies involved.
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The interaction between public and private finance in public investments
On the other hand, the adoption of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans opens the discussion on issues such as the efficiency of the PA in investment processes, and the governance of the different levels of government that will be involved in the investment programs. In particular, attention was placed on the ability of the economic system to multiply the effects of the NRP also through the interaction between public and private finance in public investments and the ability of the system of Italian companies, in particular SMEs, to take advantage the investments, incentives and reforms that will be introduced.
The meeting was attended by Pierluigi Stefanini, President of the Alliance, Giuseppe Siani, Head of the banking and financial supervision department of the Bank of Italy, Francesco Timpano, coordinator of the ASviS Finance work group for sustainable development, Umberto Filotto, Secretary General of Assofin, Gianfrancesco Rizzuti, FeBaf operational director, Marco Leonardi, Head of the Department for Planning and Coordination of Economic Policy, Elisa Petrini, Coordinator of the ASviS Business Associations working group for the implementation of the Milan Pact, Elena Di Giovanni, Vice President and Co-founder Comin & Partners Gaia Ghirardi, Cdp Sustainability Manager, Claudia Morich, Director General of the Ligurian Region Central Finance Budget Controls Directorate, Roberto Prioreschi, Managing Director Bain & Company Italy and Turkey, Angelo Rughetti, Director of the Ifel Investments Observatory, Giuseppe Tripoli, general secretary of Unioncamere and Maria Cecilia Guerra, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Stefanini (ASviS): central role of finance
«The role that finance can play in favoring this transition in behavioral models, in the objective functions of companies and in public decision-making is absolutely central – said the president of ASviS Pierluigi Stefanini -. The process has had a further acceleration with the Next Generation EU, a reaction tool to the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, through which a program of reforms, public investments and incentives for businesses will have to support the difficult recovery of the economy in the post-phase -pandemic “.