News

On 6 June 2018, Finance Norway produced a sustainable finance roadmap for the Norwegian financial sector—“The Roadmap for Green Competitiveness in the Norwegian Financial Sector”. 

The roadmap sets the vision of a profitable and sustainable Norwegian financial sector in 2030, and the goal of supporting the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable Norwegian economy.

The roadmap has seven general recommendations:

1.   Establishing a common taxonomy for sustainable finance

2.   Aligning climate reporting with the Financial Stability Board’s climate risk disclosure recommendations

3.   Increasing climate competence and capacity in the financial sector

4.   Including climate risk in the Norwegian financial supervisory authority’s mandate

5.   Improving collaboration between the financial sector and the authorities

6.   Using digitalisation to scale up the market for climate-smart solutions

7.   Contributing to innovation and change in other sectors

Besides these seven general recommendations, the roadmap provides recommendations for specific parts of the financial sector:

1. Banking:
   • Measure carbon-related credit exposure
   • Make climate part of the credit process
   • Include climate criteria in residential and commercial mortgages
   • Make the bond market “greener”
2. Nonlife insurance:
   • Exchange claims and climate data with local and other authorities
   • Step up loss prevention efforts
   • Draw up climate criteria for rebuilds after natural disasters
   • Develop products that stimulate climate-smart behaviour, a sharing economy and circular solutions
3. Investment, pensions and asset management:
   • Measure greenhouse gas emissions from the portfolio and set reduction target
   • Integrate climate risk into mandates, strategies, analyses and investment decisions
   • Set targets for the allocation of capital to forward-looking companies and industries
   • Stress-test the portfolio against zero emissions in 2050 and reduce climate exposure

The aim of this roadmap is to:

• Inspire the financial sector itself, the authorities, other stakeholders and society by presenting the potential of a profitable financial sector that contributes to the low-carbon transition
• Inform about the role of the financial sector both today and in the low-carbon transition
• Serve as a platform for dialogue and collaboration on climate issues in the financial sector, and a starting point for decision and policy making

For additional information, click here.