Sustainable transition in the Paris financial center

Sustainable transition in the Paris financial center

Developing a financial hub that serves the needs of citizens and the real and long-term economy, a financial hub that supports sustainable development, is one of the main objectives of Paris EUROPLACE. To meet the growing needs in terms of infrastructure, energy transition and innovation, the development of long-term savings and its orientation towards the financing of companies, towards a sustainable and responsible economy, is a strategic priority.

Over a relatively short period of time, sustainable finance has developed strongly, from a stage where it was limited to specialized finance, to a phase where it is extending to traditional finance. Today, our action focuses on all its segments: the acceleration of socially responsible investment, the development of environmental finance as well as social and solidarity-based finance. This is at the heart of the « corporate name » of the financial market that we want to develop in France and for which we are working today on a new strategic action plan for 2030.

France’s sustainable finance roadmap, drawn up with the stakeholders of the Paris financial hub, sets out recommendations for institutional investors and public authorities to promote responsible investment. Among other things, it recommends clarifying and deepening the fiduciary responsibility of investors – in particular by clarifying the requirements for the integration of ESG challenges by investors’ governance bodies, integrating the social and environmental impacts of investment activities into the definition of investor responsibility – and creating a favourable context for the development of responsible investment – in particular by making dialogue between issuers and investors more fluid and effective.

At the European level, the Paris financial hub shares the objectives of the European Commission’s Action Plan for the Development of Sustainable Finance to redirect capital flows towards a more sustainable economy, to integrate sustainability into risk management and to promote transparency and sustainable investments. It supports concrete actions that underpin these objectives, including the development of more efficient governance integrating corporate social responsibility criteria and the necessary reorientation of short-term market practices.

By Arnaud de Bresson – General Delegate of Paris EUROPLACE