THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE AND INVESTMENTS IN THE GREEN RECOVERY

Abstract

The climate change and sustainable development issues have increasingly become a subject of global concern in the last decades and even more due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the concept of sustainable finance has gained lately more substance and features. The main objective of this research is to conceptually analyse the character and importance of sustainable finance as required nowadays for a green recovery after the latest major health, environmental, financial, economic, and social Covid-19 crisis and for the transition to a sustainable economy, in the particular case of European Union. The methodology is based on the literature, own outcomes, analysis and synthesis, in order to reveal some of the most important factors for the development of a new paradigm of sustainable finance as well as the objectives and principles of development. The first part is dedicated to the scientific and theoretical background, while in the second part of the paper body it is analysed the sustainable financial system of the European Union. Although the foundation blocks have been stated and there are already successful sustainable investments in green projects (as in Romania e.g.) conclusions suggest that this is only the beginning of a new era of the sustainable financial framework, enabling the EU economy to transform and recover while taking in consideration the ESG criteria and especially the climate neutrality goals.

Keywords

• sustainable finance
• investments
• green recovery
• principles
• transition
• financial framework