Building a competitive and climate-resilient Europe: the role of finance and insurance

What role should sustainable finance play in supporting Europe’s long-term economic competitiveness and resilience? Is the EU on the right track in revising its sustainable finance framework through the Omnibus process? What changes are needed to give investors adequate data and confidence in green investments? How should the EU respond to a context where the US government has fundamentally changed the incentives and constraints facing the US financial sector?

Insurance and reinsurance are expected to play a main backstop role against extreme weather events in the economy and financial sector. To what extent—and how—can public policy, financial regulation, and supervision of financial markets support the insurance and reinsurance sectors in fulfilling their role in mitigating and adapting to climate risks? What should insurers be insuring? What can private insurance handle and where do public backstops and disaster relief fit in? Can collaboration at the EU level lead to bridge the insurance gaps? What are the different options and what role can current EU institutions play?