The time until the necessary achievement of the carbon neutrality goals counts, but it is necessary to ensure the financing of transformative projects that enable the achievement of the goal. Mário Centeno defends that “commitment and cooperation” are the key ingredients for the recipe for success, although he warns that, with the climate transition and the impact it will have on transforming the economy, there will be people who will be harmed. “Collaboration because this transition must be inclusive. There are losers, there are winners. It happens all the time,” the Bank of Portugal governor said yesterday.
The former Minister of Finance took part in the debate on Financial Capitalism & Sustainability, at the seventh edition of the Estoril conferences, on the Nova SBE campus, attended by Irene Heemskerk, in charge of the Center for Climate Change at the European Central Bank, and Luisa Gómez Bravo, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking at BBVA.
In order to achieve the green goals related to the financial system, the governor of Banco de Portugal said it was necessary to assess the “available resources” and invest in structuring areas such as education, technology and globalization. In the words of the former minister, financial sustainability is something that “definitely takes time to achieve”, and therefore patience is needed. “However, being patient does not mean being inert,” emphasized Centeno, who does not dismiss the need for action.
The message that there is still a lot of work to be done was conveyed during the conference. Irene Heemskerk warned about the lack of available information on this subject and emphasized the importance of a society that is aware of the problem.
“We need clarity and clarity about what financial sustainability is. And that explanation must be given by credible institutions, which have the knowledge and tools to do so. It is essential that comparisons also become available, because without them we would not be able to make the right choice,” he concludes.
The 2050 targets will require effort and investment from banks, says BBVA’s Corporate & Investment Banking leader. It is necessary to “mobilize capital”, “promote private investment” and “reduce emissions” – and the banks, Luisa Gómez Bravo believes, are “doing their part”.
More than ever, it is necessary to “decarbonize human activities, do it fast and include emerging markets in this equation,” the bank’s official also stressed. The leader of the European Central Bank’s Climate Change Center was the one who closed the debate concluding that “we are all part of this puzzle” and that “we can reduce environmental impact in everything we do – and only in in this way wants to go to neutrality”.
Under the motto Rebalancing our World: A Call To The Purpose Generation, the seventh edition of the Estoril Conferences is still taking place today, organized by Nova SBE, the Chamber Municipality of Cascais and the support of Dinheiro Vivo, as media partner. Even today, political, business and thinkers will pass through the Carcavelos campus to debate the challenges of the planet, people and peace.
A non-European, but global war
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took the stage to list the issues facing democracy, from the conflict in Ukraine to the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, but above all to underline that, more than ever, “we must are in principles”. “We know that the war in Ukraine is not a European war, but a global war involving three major players, the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union,” he said. The President of the Republic has no doubts that “the Russian Federation wants to regain world power and not just regional power” and reinforced the belief that it will be “the target generation” to rebalance the world.
But, he warned, it is necessary to “fight inequality” and ensure “dialogue”, the “refusal of racism and xenophobia”. “Now it’s your turn,” he said, addressing the hundreds of college students in the audience.
Source: DN
