In an opening address at the 2nd Conference on Sustainable Finance in Madrid, Bank of Spain Deputy Governor Soledad Núñez argued that climate change and wider environmental risks remain a material challenge for the economy and the financial system and that sustainability criteria need to be embedded in financial decisions to manage physical and transition risks. She also cautioned that efforts to simplify sustainability reporting in the European Union should not undermine transparency and comparability needed for investment decisions and climate risk management. The speech highlighted the economic, social and geopolitical dimensions of climate risk, citing USD 320 billion in global economic losses from natural disasters in 2024 and United Nations projections that annual disasters could rise by 40% by 2030 versus 2015. It referenced Network for Greening the Financial System analysis that a three-year delay in climate action could raise the cost of transition to 1.3% of global GDP by 2030 (from 0.5%), and estimated financing needs of around USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for adaptation and transition. On market trends, global sustainable bond issuance totalled EUR 408.5 billion in 2025 H1 (25% lower than 2024 H1), with green bond issuance down nearly 25% and social bonds down 33%; in Spain, total bond issuance was EUR 12,450 million at end-H1, with green bonds down almost 33% and sustainable bonds up nearly 31%. Núñez noted that the European Green Bonds Regulation, broadly applied since December 2024, requires proceeds to be allocated to EU taxonomy-aligned projects and mandates an external review, and she emphasised the need for higher-quality data and tools, including more granular sources such as satellite data, to support stress tests and scenario analysis and to reduce greenwashing risks.
Bank of Spain 2025-12-17
Bank of Spain urges robust sustainability disclosures and climate risk data as sustainable bond issuance falls
Bank of Spain Deputy Governor Soledad Núñez, at the 2nd Conference on Sustainable Finance, emphasized integrating sustainability criteria into financial decisions to address climate risks. She warned against simplifying EU sustainability reporting at the expense of transparency. Núñez highlighted the economic impact of climate risks, noting a decline in global sustainable bond issuance and the importance of high-quality data for stress tests and reducing greenwashing.