WiFi project

Sustainable finance" - understood as the systematic consideration and promotion of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) aspects and requirements for a sustainable(re) development of the economy and society by the financial sector - has experienced remarkable development in recent years. It manifests itself in a growing number of different private and public actors as well as practical, political, regulatory and legislative initiatives at international, European and now also national level. This development is also accompanied by a rapidly growing number of discussion threads as well as publications of different provenance and quality.

The resulting confusion is increasingly difficult to manage and represents a growing obstacle to the necessary timely transformation. Unlike in the case of traditional finance/science, there is not yet a nearly sufficient "knowledge infrastructure" for the field of sustainable finance, e.g. in the form of specialist journals, training courses, specialist conferences, etc. As a result, already existing approaches and approaches to sustainable finance are not yet available. As a result, already existing approaches and ideas of different actors can hardly be recorded, classified and evaluated.

It is about the structured and prepared summary of current information in the cross-sectional area of sustainable finance.

This includes the development and establishment of a virtual, continuously updated knowledge platform on the topic of sustainable finance, which is then filled with both the information on selected topics to be prepared in a way that is suitable for the target group as well as other relevant information on the topic of sustainable finance and is then "activated", made known to a broad public and continuously updated.

The project is coordinated by the Verein für Umweltmanagement und Nachhaltigkeit in Finanzinstituten e.V. (VfU) and in cooperation with other universities and practice partners.

The primary goal is to systematically classify and evaluate information, approaches and discussion threads in the context of sustainable finance - for fields of action classified as particularly important - and to make them accessible to the interested (specialist) public. Within the project, the CSEM is primarily investigating following questions (1) To what extent are there starting points for reducing the carbon footprint of buildings within the framework of Sustainable Finance? (2) Implications of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and significance of the various standard setters, (3) Significance of the labelling of sustainable financial products for consumers