Fostering economic growth in the EU through the sustainable finance

Over the next twenty years, Europe will need to invest significant financial resources, particularly in the area of environmental protection. It will be essential to direct both public and private funds towards ecological and sustainable actions to mitigate the risks associated with climate change, while simultaneously creating new jobs and ensuring sustainable economic growth. The aim of this article is to analyse the issues surrounding sustainable finance, as well as the actions and instruments undertaken by the EU in relation to the restructuring of the system for financing sustainable environmental investments. The authors seek to answer the following questions: (1) Will the actions undertaken by the European Commission (EC) in restructuring the financial system contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals? (2) How, and to what extent, will the implemented solutions in this area help businesses and other institutions operating in markets, such as financial or capital markets, to meet the requirements associated with achieving Sustainable Development Goals? The authors verify a research hypothesis assumed that sustainable finance instruments adopted in the EU should facilitate the implementation of ecological and sustainable investments to mitigate the risks posed by climate change, thereby creating new jobs and promoting sustainable economic growth in the EU. However, the complexity of the implemented solutions implies many legal, economic, and social dilemmas that are noticeable in every aspect of social and economic life. The article employs descriptive, comparative, and diachronic research methods. The research outcomes lead to the conclusion that, although EU institutions strive to equip all stakeholders involved in the process of restructuring the system for financing sustainable investments with appropriate instruments, the complexity of sustainable development and sustainable finance issues (such as non-financial reporting, the detailed nature of indicators to be achieved, and their presentation by different stakeholders, etc.) makes these instruments insufficient to ensure the presentation of consistent and comparable data by companies and other market participants.