The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced a new climate target for its €331 billion corporate bond portfolio, committing to an average 7% annual reduction in carbon emissions intensity. This ambitious goal reinforces the ECB’s alignment with the Paris Agreement and the EU’s broader carbon neutral strategy, highlighting the central bank’s growing role in advancing ESG integration within monetary policy. 

The ECB’s latest climate-related financial disclosures reveal that the carbon intensity of its corporate bond holdings—across both the Asset Purchase Programme (APP) and Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP)—has already declined by 38% since 2021, falling from 266 to 165 tCO₂e per EUR million invested. 

These disclosures mark the ECB’s third climate report since launching its climate action plan in 2021, which integrates climate-related risks into monetary policy, collateral frameworks, and risk assessments. Notably, while direct investment “tilting” towards lower-emission companies has contributed to portfolio decarbonization, the majority of reductions stem from issuer-level emission cuts across sectors. 

“Building strategic resilience and tackling climate change go hand in hand,” said ECB President Christine Lagarde, emphasizing that addressing climate risks is essential to maintaining price stability and financial system resilience. 

Additionally, the ECB introduced a new metric measuring its corporate portfolio exposure to sectors highly dependent on nature, with 30% of holdings concentrated in vulnerable sectors like utilities, food, and real estate. This highlights the interconnected nature of climate and biodiversity risks within financial stability. 

Despite slowing reinvestments, the ECB’s 2024 purchases under its tilting framework saw a 76% drop in Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity compared to pre-tilting levels. The disclosures demonstrate the ECB’s ongoing commitment to embedding ESG principles and accelerating Europe’s carbon neutral strategy through financial market leadership. 

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https://www.esgtoday.com/ecb-sets-goal-to-reduce-emissions-of-e331-billion-corporate-bond-portfolio-by-7-per-year/