DNB publiceert aanpak voor toezicht op de beheersing van klimaat- en milieurisico’s

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has published a guide for the management of climate and environmental risks in the financial sector.
This guide provides points of focus and „good practices“ for insurers, pension funds, investment firms, and electronic money and payment institutions to manage these risks effectively. The guide was developed with input from the financial sector and NGOs during a consultation process, see eventid=18340.
Based on the feedback received, the guide was updated to include more attention to biodiversity loss and its connection with climate risks and a new good practice for institutions starting to integrate climate and environmental risks into their core processes.
DNB uses this guide in its supervision of financial and non-financial risks arising from climate change and environmental damage. These risks include capital destruction due to extreme weather events, unforeseen costs for insurers, market devaluation of certain investments due to new climate and environmental policies, and reputational and legal risks for institutions investing in companies with negative environmental impacts.
DNB also considers the action plans of financial institutions regarding sustainability commitments, such as the Climate Commitment, in its supervision of climate and environmental risk management. Non-compliance with these commitments may result in reputational and legal risks. DNB will assess how institutions monitor their progress in fulfilling these voluntary commitments, and compliance with their own sustainable investment policies will be a part of on-site examinations of ESG risks.
The guide will be updated approximately one year from publication, incorporating new good practices and reflecting current developments in laws and regulations related to climate and environmental risks. DNB aims to further embed ESG factors in risk assessments of financial institutions and plans to include ESG risks in the annual surveys for sector-wide risk analyses in 2024.
Additionally, DNB is developing ESG dashboards to understand institutions‘ exposure to various ESG aspects, which will be used for supervisory discussions and risk assessments.
Please note, that this guide does not apply to banks, as they are subject to the ECB-Guide in banking supervision.