The Bank of Italy (“BoI”) is a careful observer of themes related to the environment, climate change and sustainability, for many reasons:

1. developments in these fields can have consequences for the economy, and need to be thoroughly understood for conducting monetary policy;
2. BoI considers climate-related – physical and transition, as these risks feed the classical risk categories to which intermediaries are exposed (credit, market, operational, liquidity);
3. BoI, while not subjected to the EU climate legislation, is committed to reducing its environmental footprint; it has been publishing an annual Environment report since 2010, and is working towards reaching net zero emissions by 2050;
4. BoI owns a relatively large portfolio of assets for non-monetary policy-related purposes, and is committed to invest it according to sustainability criteria.

This attention to environmental themes is shared internationally by over 140 central banks and supevisory authorities that have joined the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

Climate- and environment-related litigation

Litigation related to climate is growing worldwide. The number of cases per year increased from just a dozen in 2004 to around 250 more recently. The highest number has been recorded in ...