“It’s for the environment… it’s for everyone.” A daughter and her father were talking yesterday in a public car park about why they no longer issue paper tickets. With that phrase, the daughter dispelled her father’s suspicions in an instant.
Awareness of the threat posed by climate change is becoming increasingly evident, both individually and collectively: economic actors have long been aware of the need to combat global warming through a less carbon-intensive production system, and to promote economic growth that benefits all segments of society, especially after the health crisis caused by the pandemic, which has hit the most vulnerable hardest.
This is not merely opportunistic rhetoric driven by its positive reception in society—quite the opposite. Social and economic stakeholders need the authorities to strengthen the commitments they are making through clear changes to the regulatory and legal frameworks that remove uncertainty and smooth the way for them to move more decisively along the path of sustainability. This level of specificity is essential for companies’ day-to-day activity and for increasing the presence and transparency of sustainable financial assets in the markets.
Innovation and the energy transition form the basis of the recent agreement reached in the EU to drive the economic recovery after the pandemic. The pact views the current crisis as an opportunity to move decisively towards a stronger growth model with lower environmental costs. Its greatest challenge is to align the essential short-term economic stimulus with an approach that is sufficiently sustainable. Our authorities are called upon to define a clear strategy with a perfect and lasting alchemy so that the magic works.
José Luis Martínez Campuzano, Spokesperson for the Spanish Banking Association
