Over the past few decades sustainability-related concerns have become a major driver of change in the practices and policies guiding the activities in the financial markets. In the Norwegian context, several large investors were early movers, taking on measures emerging from the voluntary agenda of responsible investment to tackle ethical dilemmas and ESG issues in their business activities. More recently, the Paris agreement and the UN Sustainability Goals have entailed a series of policy initiatives which have led to changes in legislation pertaining to the financial sector. Prominent among these are the EU Green Deal, which has sustainable finance as an important underlying workstream. Under the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance, a series of regulatory initiatives have been developed in the EU. These comprise among others the EU taxonomy as well as comprehensive new disclosure frameworks relating to climate and other sustainability issues for companies and financial enterprises. The inclusion of biodiversity loss and nature-related financial risks under the renewed EU strategy for sustainable finance, suggests that the trend will not abate anytime soon. Norway, as an EEA country, is directly affected by the changes in the European regulatory landscape.
The burgeoning regulatory activity in this field raises pressing issues relating to the European and Norwegian regulatory approach to sustainable finance. The aim of the seminar is to bring together academics, practitioners, lawyers and representatives from the financial sector to investigate, discuss and disseminate knowledge about the developments within this important regulatory field. The seminar will include sessions on the history and conceptual development of sustainable finance (including the definition of ESG and other important terms), the status of the European regulation on sustainable finance, the Norwegian implementation, the role of the central bank and possible impact of new mandatory rules for financial stability, micro-prudential supervision, enforcement and compliance.
Key regulations: SFDR, CSRD, EU taxonomy regulation, EU benchmark legislation, NGFS, CRD, CRR, MiFID, MAR
PROGRAMME
08.30 – 9.00 Coffee/tea
START at 9 AM
09.00 – 9.15 Welcome. Trude Myklebust, Postdoc, Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo and Mirella E. Grant, Guest Researcher, Department of Private Law, University of Oslo
Moderator Mads Andenæs, Professor, Department of Private Law, University of Oslo
Part I: the international perspective
9.15 – 10.00 Sustainable Finance and international initiatives: the transition to low emissions (40 min. 5 min. Q&A) Martin Skancke, self-employed consultant at Skancke Consulting, former head of the Asset Management department at the Ministry of Finance, former chair of the Norwegian Climate Risk Commission and the Norwegian 2050 Climate Change Committee.
10.00 – 10.15 Coffee
10.15 – 11.30 The European regulation of sustainable finance - taking stock of the regulatory initiatives and institutional issues in EU regime (60 min.+ 15 min. Q&A)
Kern Alexander Professor Dr.iur., Faculty of Law, University of Zurich
11.30 – 12.30 Lunch
Part II: the Norwegian perspective
Moderator Mirella E. Grant, Guest Researcher, Department of Private Law, University of Oslo
12.30 – 13.00 Implementing the EU regulatory package on sustainable finance in Norwegian legislation – status and future steps (25 min. + 5 min. Q&A) Erling G. Rikheim, Deputy Director General, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Financial Markets Department
13.00 – 13.30 Micro-prudential supervision and enforcement – good practices for climate-related and environmental risk management (25 min. + 5 min. Q&A) Anders Hole, Deputy Director General, Finanstilsynet (FSA), Banking and Insurance Supervision
13.30 – 14.00 Implications of the new regulation on sustainable finance (25 min. + 5 min. Q&A) Elise Johansen, Lawyer specializing in sustainability-, climate- and environmental law, Partner at Wikborg Rein, former professor at the University of Tromsø
14.00 – 14.30 Sustainable finance and compliance in practice (20 min. + 5 min. Q&A) Stefan Bochtler, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group
14.30 – 15.00 Coffee
Moderator Trude Myklebust, Postdoc, Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo
15.00 – 15.30 Norway’s Nature Risk Commission’s report (NOU 2024: 2) – Main takeaways and the way forward. Trude Myklebust, Member of the Nature Risk Commission
15.30 – 16.00 The relevance of climate risks for monetary policy and financial stability (25 min. + 5 min. Q&A). Henrik Borchgrevink, Director, Norges Bank, Financial Stability Department
16.00 – 16.30 Norges Bank Investment Management – tackling climate risk and nature-related risks from an investor perspective (25 min. + 5 min. Q&A). Christopher Wright, Head of ESG Risk Monitoring, Norges Bank Investment Management
16.30 – 17.00 Sustainable finance in a macroeconomic perspective (25 min.+ 5 min. Q&A). Klaus Mohn, Rector and professor, University of Stavanger
All participants are invited to a social event with tapas in Viggo Hagstrøm’s sal, adjacent to Kjerka (in Domus Media), directly after the seminar.
The seminar is open to all who register by March 6th.
The Seminar is generously supported by the Norwegian Finance Market Fund