In his speech on 9th November, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, set out the government's new vision for the future of the UK financial services industry, a vision firmly rooted in the challenge of climate change.

In addition to the headline-grabbing pledge that the UK will launch its first sovereign green bond, the Chancellor also announced that Britain would become the first country in the world that would require all its banks, insurance companies and pension schemes to disclose their climate-related risks. This is in addition to the introduction of a rule that from next January the largest listed companies must implement full climate risk disclosure. Over and beyond this, the Bank of England has announced that it will launch its climate stress test for banks in June 2021, which means that banks will have to prove that they have reserves commensurate with the climate risks that they will face as part of the stress test.

Since the last edition of this well-established conference a year ago, there have been a number of other significant regulatory developments: the EU Technical Expertise Group’s Taxonomy on Sustainable Finance; a recent announcement by the UK government that it will publish its own taxonomy; the establishment of the Climate Financial Risk Forum by the PRA and the FCA, which recently published guidance on climate-related disclosures, risk management, scenario analysis and innovation; an update on the Task-Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure's status; and revisions to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive.   

It is very clear that green finance is fast becoming one of the most important themes for financial institutions and that adapting business models to embrace it will not just be a source of competitive advantage, but a regulatory necessity. The second edition of The Climate Risk & Green Finance Regulatory Forum, which is being held online on 11th February, will provide practical, detailed guidance about the steps that financial institutions need to be taking now in order to ensure that they are prepared for, and fully compliant with, the emerging regulatory environment, as well as examining the new opportunities that this seismic shift in finance will bring.

Topics that will be covered by our expert panel include:

Green reporting methodology: disclosure and synthesisation Scenario analysis: a status update and the impacts of the Climate Financial Risk Forum’s advice Governance and the role of the board in progress on sustainable finance Risk management and operational resilience The EU Green Deal and greening the Post-Covid Recovery Innovating for the future: catalysts for the ongoing climate finance transition Prospects for the green bond market Developments of new green financial products