The role of finance in environmental protection: A report on regulators’ perspective

Abstract

In international contexts, a key role has been assigned to sustainable finance for the achievement of climate change mitigation objectives. In the context of environmental finance, this contribution focuses on the tool of green bonds, framing the regulators’ perspective and the principles of (self) regulation that describe the process of issuing, evaluating and reporting for the transparency and efficiency of the financial market. The previous studies, in fact, neglected the theme of the rules despite the numerous interventions of the institutions in this field and despite the fact that the theory of market efficiency underlines the crucial role of the rules for the protection of investors and the transparency of the market. In particular, knowing the regulatory framework makes possible to highlight the system of incentives and protections for issuers and investors in the segment of listing and trading of securities. From our analysis, it emerged that the current voluntary regulatory system is still far from ensuring an adequate level of transparency to investors. However, the report published by the EU Commission, containing the proposal to introduce common criteria for the issuance of green bonds in Europe, seems to promote greater protection for the underwriters, leaving more room for the development of green investments. The present study concerns a preliminary analysis, necessary for subsequent investigations aimed at evaluating the convenience of green bonds compared to other segments of bonds listed on the European market.