Sustainable Finance and Fintech: Can Technology Contribute to Achieving Environmental Goals? A Preliminary Assessment of 'Green Fintech' and 'Sustainable Digital Finance'

The Digital Finance/Fintech Action Plan and the Sustainable Finance Strategy both represent important pillars of the current EU policy agenda. Nonetheless, the two areas have been treated as separate for along time, while they present certain common features and great potential when combined. In particular, Fintech appears able to respond to some shortcomings in the current sustainable finance framework (e.g. access to retail financing, ESG disclosure, verification and ratings, etc.). The relevance of the link between sustainability, finance and technology has also been evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, which has urged all countries to re-think the models traditionally deployed and rely more on technology and sustainability. However, Fintech/digital finance still raises per se relevant technical and legal issues that need to be addressed to fulfil its promises and potential in the sustainable finance sector. The present paper aims at starting a debate about Green Fintech in order to effectively connect the two worlds and spur the research in such a new and promising area. Special attention will be also reserved to the recent proposal for a European Single Access Point for corporate financial and non-financial disclosure.

Automated summary

Digital finance and fintech have great potential in promoting sustainable finance. The COVID-19 crisis has urged countries to rethink traditional models and rely more on technology and sustainability. However, fintech still faces technical and legal issues that need to be addressed to unlock its potential in the sustainable finance sector.