Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire wants to create “a green savings product” to direct French savings towards projects that support carbon neutrality, he declared Thursday during the presentation of a report by think tank The Shift Project.
Based on the realization that savings in France are largely in “very liquid” products, such as livret A, and therefore far from useful long-term projects for the environmental transition, Bruno Le Maire wants to look at next year the design of a new tool
“A Little Less Liquid” Than Leaflet A
This “green savings product will probably be a little less liquid” than traditional savings investments, “with probably a somewhat higher risk quota, but it will include the guarantee that every euro invested will go to a green project,” explained the minister. .
Mindful of the risk of greenwashing, Bruno Le Maire promises checks to ensure that “green investments are well directed towards projects in line with the objective of carbon neutrality”. “Many financial products are presented as green, but only very partially, or even not at all,” he judged, criticizing in particular the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Notebook, “which is only sustainable and solidary in name.”
For The Shift Project, finance has an important role to play in the fight against climate change, but climate issues are not present enough in the training of economics and finance professionals. This is the conclusion of the report published this Thursday and which calls for a review of the programs. “Money is not a problem, we will always find it, the important thing is the way in which financial flows are directed”, estimated the Minister of Economy.
Source: BFM TV
