Secondo Elderson, si sono osservati progressi nell'affrontare i rischi climatici tra le banche europee, ma sono necessarie ulteriori azioni.
La Banca Centrale Europea (BCE) ha annunciato che le banche europee hanno fatto significativi progressi nell'affrontare i rischi climatici, come rivelato dal suo membro del consiglio esecutivo, Frank Elderson.
Elderson ha evidenziato che più della metà delle banche ha adottato le migliori pratiche per alcune esposizioni climatiche, un aumento significativo rispetto al solo 3% del 2022. Ha inoltre dichiarato che tutte le banche hanno ora incluso il rischio climatico nei loro test di stress, in aumento dal 41% del 2022.
Inoltre, Elderson ha notato che più del 90% delle banche si considera ora materialmente esposto ai rischi climatici e ambientali, un aumento dal 50% del 2021. Tuttavia, solo un terzo delle banche integra esplicitamente i rischi climatici nei loro piani di capitale, e tre quarti delle banche non coprono ancora tutti i fattori di rischio climatici e legati alla natura materiali nei loro processi di valutazione della adeguatezza del capitale interno (ICAAP).
Despite these gaps, Elderson has expressed optimism, stating that banks under European supervision are well positioned to meet the prudential transition planning requirements that will come into effect in 2026. He emphasized the importance of resilient banks in financing investments in the green, digital, and defense transitions.
The ECB will host an industry conference on October 1 to further discuss these issues. The bank also plans to publish a collection of good practices observed in banks across Europe later this year.
Elderson reiterated that European banking supervision will continue to strive for a resilient banking sector, addressing all risk drivers including those stemming from the climate and nature crises. He also emphasized that climate and nature-related risks are already a reality and the materiality of these risks is rising.
Elderson also warned that experts are forecasting climate change will have serious long-term effects on house prices and other asset values. He further mentioned the concern raised by Allianz, which has warned that more natural disasters might mean that insurers would no longer be able to operate, creating a systemic risk that threatens the very foundation of the financial sector.
As of the last update on July 19, 2025, no specific European banks have been publicly identified as having fully excluded relevant climate and nature crisis risk factors from their ICAAPs and stress test processes. However, climate and environmental risks are currently assessed in separate thematic stress tests and are planned to be integrated into general supervisory stress tests after the joint guidelines by EBA, Eiopa, and ESMA are published in early 2026 following consultation until September 19, 2025.
In 2024, only 5% of banks had no practices in place for measuring and managing climate risks, a significant decrease from a quarter in 2022. Risk assessments by banks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, according to Elderson.
The ECB's assessment of which banks met its deadline of the end of 2024 to include climate-related and environmental risks in their stress testing and ICAAPs is still ongoing. The bank will provide further updates as the assessment progresses.
