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F ocus
TABLE OF CONTENT
FMA Annual Report 2021
SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
The financial sector can make a crucial contribution to achieving international sustainability goals, for example by offering sus tainable investments. The focus is currently on environmental and climate risks. However, sustainability also encompasses responsible corporate governance and social aspects such as fair working conditions and respect for human rights.
Sustainable finance is understood to mean forms of
The inclusion of the financial services sector to achieve
integrate sustainability criteria – in particular environ-
the sustainability-related Disclosure Regulation and
financial services in which financial intermediaries
mental, social, and governance criteria – into their business or investment decisions. The aim is to achieve
sustainable benefits for the customer, the environment, and society.
While sustainability is not limited to the natural environment, the current focus is, indeed, on environmen-
tal and climate risks. As part of the Green Deal, the European Union has set itself the goal of making the
transition to a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy. The goals include no net greenhouse
these objectives relies on several legal acts, such as the Taxonomy Regulation. In 2021, the FMA drafted
the EEA Financial Services Sustainability Implementation Act on behalf of the Government to transpose the European requirements. These legal acts are
intended, in particular by means of transparency rules,
to redirect private capital flows in the direction of sustainable investments and prevent greenwashing.
Supervisory authorities consider climate risks to be
a core risk for the financial sector. A distinction is made between, firstly, physical risks such as extreme
gases emissions by 2050. Liechtenstein has commit-
weather events or rising sea levels with all their
pared to 1990. The financial sector can make a crucial
chains – and, secondly, transition risks arising from
ted to reducing its emissions by 40 % by 2030 comcontribution to achieving international sustainability
goals, for example by offering sustainable investments.
consequences – for example, the collapse of supply
the shift to a low-carbon economy, which may jeopardise companies and financial products that fail to
