The BCRA Has Approved the National Strategy for Sustainable Finance

The Board of the BCRA has approved the National Strategy for Sustainable Finance (Estrategia Nacional de Finanzas Sostenibles, ENFS) that presents the parameters and guidelines for identifying and approaching risks and opportunities related to climate change, thus contributing to the strengthening, development, and stability of the Argentine financial system.

The ENFS was formulated within the framework of the Technical Group for Sustainable Finance (Mesa Técnica de Finanzas Sostenibles, MTFS). Since 2020, the Group has brought together the sector's regulators with the purpose of developing sustainable finance in Argentina and promoting appropriate management of risks associated with social, environmental, and governance-related factors.

The approved ENFS revolves on five main parameters that include both financial and non-financial aspects: 1) regulatory framework; 2) common language and taxonomy; 3) production of information, transparency, reporting, indicators, and data analytics; 4) incentives; and 5) sustainable financial instruments.

One of the objectives is to create an ecosystem and to lay down conditions to raise alternative resources for encouraging public and private investments with economic and social objectives, including climate proofing.

As regards the BCRA, the ENFS sets out general guidelines for action aimed at reducing financial institutions’ carbon footprint. These guidelines further seek to encourage financial institutions to include climate change-related risks in their risk management process.

Both the ENFS and the MTFS' work are part of the growing international commitment to face the challenges posed by climate change. Different international forums, central banks, regulatory and supervisory authorities, as well as market participants, have made progress in analyzing potential risks and financial implications, and have started to outline alternatives to address them.

Based on the analysis and lessons learned from other initiatives on the subject at a global level, the ENFS causes these experiences to be in line with the national productive system and the economic and social context.

On May 11, 2023, the BCRA released the results of the first National Survey on Sustainable Finance and Climate Change (Encuesta Nacional de Finanzas Sostenibles y Cambio Climático, ENFSyCC) carried out in the last quarter of 2022, which show financial institutions' growing interest in promoting sustainable finance.

June 5, 2023