EU harnesses finance to make continent ‘climate neutral’ by 2050

The European Union plans to funnel hundreds of billions of euros annually into sustainable investments.

The European Union (EU) said on Tuesday that it will harness banks and markets to funnel hundreds of billions of euros annually into sustainable investments and create the first “climate-neutral continent” by 2050. The EU’s sustainable finance strategy sets out detailed milestones and measures for the financial sector, companies and households to reach the bloc’s climate goal. “As the scale of investment required is well beyond the capacity of the public sector, the main objective of the sustainable finance framework is to channel private financial flows into relevant economic activities,” said the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission.