”, markets, infrastructures, payment systems, 14, december 2021. as part of the investments in government bonds, there is a small but not negligible thematic portfolio of green bonds, financing projects with environmental sustainability objectives. for all asset classes, the bank assesses their sustainability results annually. 18 finally, the bank has also adopted an environmental policy to reduce the ecological footprint of its activities. overall, in 2020 the bank reported a 28 per cent decrease in total carbon dioxide emissions compared with the previous year, a 5. 6 per cent reduction in electricity consumption and a 14. 5 per cent reduction in water consumption, mainly as a consequence of remote working. 19 together with the ecb and the other eurosystem central banks, banca d ’ italia contributes to reducing the environmental impact of the production, distribution, recirculation and disposal of euro banknotes. in line with central banks ’ best practices, in 2020, 90 per cent of shredded banknotes was sent to waste - to - energy plants or installations for the production of secondary solid fuel. conclusions let me conclude by saying that green finance is also an intellectual challenge, requiring us to add the new knowledge and information stemming from other scientific fields to our typical financial and economic background. the urgency of addressing climate issues is increasingly felt by financial institutions, investors, and governments, which hold the primary responsibility in leading change. central banks are all contributing and will further innovate their actions. in this journey, still very long, and fraught with obstacles, all players are aware of having to play their part, without delays and half measures. i. faiella, e. bernardini, j. di giampaolo, m. fruzzetti, s. letta, r. loffredo and d. nasti, “ climate and environmental risks : measuring the exposure of investments ”, markets, infrastructures, payment systems, 15, december 2021. bank of italy, " environment report 2021 ". available at : https : / / www. bancaditalia. it / pubblicazioni / rapporto - ambientale / 2021 - rapporto - ambientale / environment _ report _ 2021. pdf? language _ id = 1 designed by the printing and publishing division of the bank of italy

to sustainability was reaffirmed in 2021 with the responsible investment charter, which represents the bank ’ s official framework providing guidance on its sustainable investment strategies. the charter defines the bank ’ s broad vision of sustainability ( including all esg aspects ) and the principles and criteria that inspire its investment activity. it also identifies its perimeter of application and draws up the lines of action to make the bank ’ s commitment concrete. the charter applies to the financial portfolio and foreign exchange reserves over which the bank has full decision - making autonomy. it does not apply to monetary policy portfolios, whose management is the responsibility of the eurosystem. in the last three years, banca d ’ italia has progressively applied esg criteria to its investments, adopting different strategies per asset class. for equity investments in italian and euro - area stocks, amounting to about eur 16 billion, the strategy is based on both financial and sustainability considerations. the two portfolios are managed to achieve a lower carbon intensity and a higher esg score with respect to their benchmarks. the exposure to the us and japanese equity markets, with a market value of about €2. 7 billion, is through collective instruments linked to esg benchmarks, d. barmes and z. livingstone, “ the green central banking scorecard : how green are g20 central banks and financial supervisors? ”, positive money, 2021. available at : https : / / positivemoney. org / publications / green - central - banking - scorecard / p. cipollone, “ long - term investors ’ trends : theory and practice ”, welcome address at the banca d ’ italia and lti workshop, 2021 ; e. bernardini, m. fanari and f. panfili, “ l ’ impegno per la sostenibilita degli investimenti finanziari ”, in a. scalia, “ la gestione dei rischi finanziari e climatici ”, bancaria editrice, 2022. m. fanari and g. palazzo, “ the strategic asset allocation of the investment portfolio in a central bank ”, evolving practices in public investment management, proceedings of the seventh public investors conference, 2018 ; d. di zio, m. fanari, s. letta, t. perez, g. secondin, “ l ’ allocazione strategica e la sostenibilita degli investimenti della banca centrale