The European Central Bank has released updated statistical climate indicators, using new datasets and methodology enhancements including adjustments for inflation effects, to improve tracking of sustainable finance activity and climate-related transition and physical risks in euro area financial sector portfolios. The release expands sustainable finance statistics with new aggregates for sustainable debt securities issuances, adding breakdowns by original maturity, currency of denomination and fixed versus variable interest rate. Outstanding sustainable debt securities issued in the euro area increased from EUR 453 billion in January 2021 to EUR 1.74 trillion in September 2025, although growth slowed to 10% over the past 12 months from 20% the year before; holdings reached EUR 1.96 trillion in June 2025, up 14% year on year versus 20% previously. Transition risk indicators show declining climate exposure in euro area banks’ portfolios despite larger in-scope portfolios: for loan portfolios, financed emissions fell 45% between 2018 and 2023 to 157 million tCO2eq alongside lower intensity and footprint measures, while securities portfolios saw financed emissions fall 16% between 2018 and 2024 to 36 million tCO2eq. Physical risk indicators point to rising high-risk exposures for temperature and precipitation-related hazards under forward-looking scenarios, including an increase of over 20 percentage points in high-risk exposures under RCP8.5 for the standardised precipitation index, a projected doubling of exposures linked to areas with more than 40 consecutive dry days, and an end-century rise in water-stress high-risk exposures from 28% to 39% under a pessimistic scenario, with Spain, Portugal and France showing larger increases than several northern European countries. The expanded sustainable finance aggregates also support G20 Data Gaps Initiative Recommendation 4 on Climate Finance; the indicators are published as European System of Central Banks statistics, with aggregated data made available on the ECB Data Portal and further methodological detail provided in an accompanying statistics paper and technical annex.
European Central Bank 2025-11-27
European Central Bank updates statistical climate indicators with new sustainable debt issuance breakdowns and refreshed transition and physical risk metrics
The European Central Bank updated its climate indicators, adding new datasets to better track sustainable finance and climate risks in euro area portfolios. Sustainable debt securities reached EUR 1.74 trillion by September 2025, with growth slowing to 10% over the past year. Transition risk indicators show reduced climate exposure in banks' portfolios, while physical risk indicators highlight rising high-risk exposures to climate hazards in forward-looking scenarios.