a climate - neutral future for the benefit of our people ’, com ( 2020 ) 562 final. european commission ( 2020 ), ‘ draft amending budget no 8, 28 august 2020 ’. in fact, market appetite for greener finance has not been lacking recently. the size of the sustainable asset management industry is expected to reach $ 45 trillion by the end of 2020, 10 almost twice the amount in 2016. 11 green finance instruments have grown very rapidly in response to strong demand. 12 issues of green bonds exceeded $ 200 billion in 2019, with a possible new record in 2020 ; the total outstanding amount has reached $ 1 trillion. 13 according to one source, the net inflows in us sustainable investment funds hit a record $ 20. 6 billion in 2019, nearly four times as much as in the previous year. 14 the number of institutional investors that signed the un principles of responsible investment has soared to 2, 829, accounting for $ 90 trillion of assets under management ; by subscribing, those investors have committed to seeking appropriate disclosure on esg issues from the entities in which they invest. 15 as an aside, it is welcome news for my country that one top data provider has recently placed italian sovereign bonds among the least risky in the euro area after adjusting for transition and physical risks, and for economic resilience. 16 this is linked to the fact that, as of 2020, the country has achieved all the european energy and climate targets. 17 to ensure that the drive towards sustainability in finance is itself sustainable, much remains to be done. for agents to make informed choices about climate issues, good data and sound analytical tools are essential. the situation is hardly satisfactory. ‘ currently, there are neither widely accepted rules for esg data disclosure by individual firms nor agreed auditing standards to verify the reported data … esg - score providers rely heavily on voluntary disclosure by firms and on subjective methodologies to select, assess and weight individual esg indicators. this adds to the arbitrary nature of the scores. as a result, esg scores of individual firms differ greatly across rating agencies if compared, for example, with credit ratings ’. 18 j. p. morgan, ‘ why covid - 19 could prove to be a major turning point for esg investing ’, july 1, 2020. the global sustainable investment alliance ( gsia ), global sustainable investment review 2018. a recent survey by ipsos on a panel of 19, 964 adults across 28 countries showed that

##orini ( 2019 ), ‘ climate risk and prudential regulation '. network for greening the financial system ( 2020 ), climate change and monetary policy : initial takeaways. technical document. product - based exclusions of the united nations global compact. 27 we overweight those with the best esg profiles, based on an external provider ’ s ratings. 28 in 2019, after the esg strategy had been introduced, the carbon footprint of our equity portfolio dropped by 30 per cent compared with the previous year. we are committed to further improving the environmental footprint of our investments, by applying sustainability criteria to a larger section of our portfolio. the bank of italy discloses on a regular basis both its operational principles for esg investment, and the results in terms of its carbon footprint. we acknowledge that the current esg ratings are an imperfect measure of climate risk, and support the development of more consistent, comparable and forward - looking data and scores. 29 we also support research on sound climate - risk assessment methodologies ( such as scenario analysis, and stress testing for transition and physical risks ), participating in eurosystem - wide developments. president lagarde confirmed yesterday that the eurosystem, as part of its ongoing strategic review, is considering whether to consider climate change profiles in its operations. 30 we favour any progress towards enhanced international cooperation in climate matters among regulators, supervisors and standard - setters. the bank of italy is an active member of the network for greening the financial system. as this audience knows, the uk and italy share the responsibility of promoting international climate cooperation through the upcoming cop26. * * * the awareness is growing worldwide that, if the goal of keeping the warming of the planet within safe boundaries is to be achieved, urgent action is needed to accelerate the transition towards net - zero global emissions. every actor must play their part. markets have proved themselves ready to embrace green finance, given the right incentives. change cannot just be legislated into existence, but public policy has a key role, including providing a stable climate - friendly regulatory framework. financial authorities should promote the adoption of sound climate - risk assessment practices, and support the production of adequate data ; while staying within their mandates, they can significantly contribute to achieving the common goal. this is the agreement, approved in 2004, which establishes the principles that companies should follow in the areas of human rights, labour, environmental sustainability and measures to prevent corruption. companies in all sectors can adhere to this agreement,