🪖 The EU is boosting #Defence spending, and some want to label it sustainable. But changing the EU rulebook to make defence count as green finance risks undermining climate goals and the credibility of sustainable finance. #GreenInvestments must stay green!🌱

This #Halloween, a menace looms over the financial system🦇 In #StrangerThings, the Upside Down is a dark reflection of our world. Finance has one too. Shadow banks hold nearly half of global financial assets. It’s time to regulate shadow banks before they strike! A 🧵 1/5

🧵 1/ 🚨 New report from @finance_watch: “Breaking the spiral of uninsurable climate losses” As climate impacts grow, Europe’s insurance safety net is shrinking – leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill. 🧵 Read on ↓

A new era at Finance Watch! Isabelle Buscke will be Secretary General from 1 January 2026. With deep EU policy and public interest advocacy experience, she’ll help advance a financial system that serves society. Our deepest thanks to our outgoing SG, Benoît Lallemand! 🤝 #FinanceWatch #Leadership

📣 BREAKING: Geoff Mann will join the #FinanceforSociety Forum on 4 December in Brussels! A leading voice on the politics of crisis and capitalism’s uncertain future, and author of Climate Leviathan. Join by registering through our website 👉 finance-watch.org/campaign/finance-for-society-forum-2025

📢 We’re hiring! Finance Watch is looking for a Visual Communications Officer to help make finance serve society through creative design and storytelling. 📍 Brussels | 🌍 NGO | 💡 Creative impact 👉 Learn more and apply here: www.finance-watch.org/job/job-post...

🔍 Findings from @InfluenceMap on how the UK oil & gas industry lobbied for subsidies & incentives for Carbon Capture & Storage instead of committing to real emissions cuts. At Finance Watch, we caution that relying on unproven technologies like #CCS fuels greenwashing & delays the transition! 🌍

📣 Ann Pettifor will be at the #FinanceforSociety Forum on 4 December in Brussels! She has been a leading voice on finance & justice and will soon publish her new book The Global Casino on the hidden world of shadow banking. Join us by registering today 👉 www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...

📣 Ann Pettifor will be at the #FinanceforSociety Forum on 4 December in Brussels! She has been a leading voice on finance & justice and will soon publish her new book The Global Casino on the hidden world of shadow banking. Join us by registering today 👉 www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...

🏦 Banks had more than USD$1.1tn in exposures to fossil fuels on their balance sheets in 2023, a new report from @financewatch.bsky.social found. That’s why there’s a need for a systemic climate risk buffer, said Julia Symon, one of the authors of the report.

📣 ANNOUNCING the #FinanceforSocietyForum 2025! As tensions rise with trade wars, inflation & regulatory rollbacks, academics and civil society must come together in support of resilient, just economies. Save the date and register now 🎟️ www.finance-watch.org/campaign/fin...

Tragedy of the horizons a decade on: climate change threatens financial stability By Julia Symon and Max Kretschmer at @financewatch.bsky.social www.sustainableviews.com/tragedy-of-t...

10 years after Carney’s “#TragedyOfTheHorizon” speech, the warning stands: climate risks remain unpriced, finance keeps fuelling the crisis. Disclosure isn’t enough – systemic reform is urgent: it's time for action. 🌍⏳ 🔗 www.sustainableviews.com/tragedy-of-t... #SafeTransition #BreakTheDoomLoop

🛢️ Neue Zahlen von @financewatch.bsky.social zu Kohle, Öl und Gas in den Büchern der weltweit größten Banken werfen die Frage auf: Hat #BaFin hierzulande solche Kredite und die damit verbundenen Risiken im Blick? Ein 🧵 (1/5)

🧵 New report: “A trillion dollars of climate risk” 📊🔥 Finance Watch’s latest research reveals the world’s 60 largest banks hold $1.1–1.6 trillion in fossil fuel exposures. This creates a dangerous climate-finance feedback loop. Let’s break it down 🧵👇

🌍 Climate change is a macro-critical issue multiplying risks across debt, financial stability, supply chains & infrastructure. Our new briefing highlights 6 key areas where climate must be central to the #IMF mandate👇 www.e3g.org/publications...

⚠️ EU financial chief Maria Luís Albuquerque said 'simpler' #SustainableFinance rules will attract more green capital to Europe. But scaling back reporting & due diligence will undermine credibility and provide a false impression of meeting climate investment needs! What she should do instead 👇

🌍 250+ scholars signed a statement calling to align #Omnibus reforms with climate science. Finance Watch shares their concern for the future of sustainability policy in Europe. Efforts to to 'simplify regulations' should not come at the expense of the integrity & ambition of the EU's green rules!

"Welcome to the new consensus: where military spending could become the next frontier of so-called ‘sustainable’ finance." To protect the integrity of the EU's sustainable finance framework, we must not mix defending sovereignty and investing sustainably. #KeepDefenceOut!

1/ The world’s biggest banks are gaming the system. 🏦 New Bundesbank research shows they hide risk at year-end, just when supervisors check how safe they are.

"AI systems help decide who gets a loan, how much someone pays for insurance, or whether a bank account is closed." My @financewatch.bsky.social colleague @pnorwood.bsky.social warns that it's time for the EU to close regulatory gaps in the EU's #AIAct before innovation comes at consumers’ expense.

📢 #JobAlert: Finance Watch is hiring its new Secretary General! Want to lead the fight to make finance serve the public interest? Full-time, Brussels-based role with strategic, policy and team leadership. Apply now 🔗 www.finance-watch.org/job/job-offe...

🤖 #AI is changing finance, but backing innovation and demanding strong #ConsumerProtection aren’t competing objectives. Fair rules foster trust in AI and the financial system, and help ensure more equitable AI-driven outcomes for all! Explore more in our latest report 👉 bit.ly/3IzNS7P

👀 Unfair commercial practices undermine trust, inclusion and consumer protection. From guilt-tripping pop-ups to greenwashing, algorithmic pricing and dodgy finance influencers, our latest blog breaks down how they work and why they matter. Read more 👇

Meanwhile Julia Symon of @financewatch.bsky.social‬ welcomed the release, but stressed that supervisors “need data to understand the financial risks from climate change”. 📊🌡️ #ClimateDisclosures

Banks must account for the risk of investing in companies that delay #climate action - but current rules are very flexible. Supervisors need to make sure these tests are realistic and do not paint too rosy a picture. Check out our latest recommendations for key steps to avoid misleading results 👇

The Council's #Omnibus 'simplification' marks a major retreat from EU sustainable finance goals - and fuels the deregulatory wave. The latest decision: 🌊Delays transition plans 🌊Exempts companies with <5,000 employees from due diligence and transition plan rules 🌊Cuts reporting scope by 80%

🚨 As EU policymakers debate how far to go with the #Omnibus, key safeguards on sustainability, transparency & accountability hang in the balance. In draft amendments, the Council & Parliament are proposing more dilution! We must counter this race to the bottom. A 🧵 on what's at stake. 1/4

The EU is reviving the banking trick that supercharged the 2008 crisis. ⚠️ The Commission wants to ease rules on repackaged loans, making them riskier, and harder for banks to absorb losses. Why? To “free up capital” for more lending.

As the US wages economic war and retreats from global leadership, the EU must step up to secure its #sovereignty and economic #stability. It can do so by leading with bold public investment, digital sovereignty, green transition and smart regulation. Here's how! A 🧵. 1/7

Does the EU’s investment plan start without useful investment? Next week, in the first concrete move to deliver on its capital markets agenda, the European Commission will propose slashing capital rules to revive securitisation – a financial tool that played a major part in the 2008 crash.

The ECB report adds to the debate over how Europe’s financial system should respond to the growing impact of climate change. 🇪🇺 Full story here 👉 GreenCB.co/43ShK6e #ClimateFinance #EUFinance

Are you detail-oriented, media-savvy, and eager to see what advocacy actually looks like behind the scenes? Join our Brussels team as a Comms Intern to: 📰 Work with press 🤳 Create video & visuals 🚀 Shape events bringing together civil society Apply before 27 June 👇 bit.ly/442jqeP #EUjobs #NGOjobs

Vincent Vandeloise at @financewatch.bsky.social said that the CSRD is vital for managing the risks investors and central banks face from climate change and plays a role in keeping the EU competitive.

🌍 At the Luxembourg Stakeholder Finance Initiative (LSFI) Stakeholder Assembly, chief economist Thierry Philipponnat spoke on sustainable finance amid shifting political priorities: "In times of regulatory rollbacks, investors must not lower their ambition due to a lower threshold for compliance."

🛢️Fossil fuels don’t belong in sustainable finance, but loopholes could allow them to sneak in! Congratulations to @wwf.eu & urgewald for this report on the #SFDR revision suggesting to: ✅ Link new product categories to fossil fuel exclusions ✅ Use existing databases to make implementation effective

I missed this little gem of a piece from @financewatch.bsky.social earlier. A brief description of how inadequately addressed climate change will triple our bills $.

🏛️🔥Banks VS climate risk: The #EBA should adopt more stringent requirements for the use of climate scenario analysis (CSA) in banking supervision. Our new paper 👉 www.finance-watch.org/policy-porta...

There's still time to sign up for our event in Brussels this week! Join us on 15 May for a lively afternoon of discussion on how the EU's macroeconomic framework should evolve in the 21st century. Find out more about our panelists and sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/eu-macroec...

🚨 Is the Basel Committee about to disband its climate risk task force? 🚨 The @FT reports the US is pushing to downgrade the Basel Committee’s climate task force, just as financial climate risks intensify.

14 years of impact for society! Today, Finance Watch proudly celebrates 14 years of working to ensure that finance serves society. 🎉 👏 A heartfelt thank you to our members, supporters and team! With your continued support, there’s much more to come! 👉 www.finance-watch.org/about/

Can’t tap to pay? You shouldn’t be excluded. At Finance Watch, we fully back the #DigitalEuro, but not at the expense of cash. Both are essential for #FinancialInclusion! Explore more 👇

1/ 📉 Can we really trust economic models that say climate collapse will only cost us 2% of global GDP? Climate science warns of a very different future – one where +3°C triggers tipping points, ecosystem collapse, and massive human suffering. Yet mainstream economics shrugs.🧵

📢 #JobAlert: (Senior) Research & Advocacy Officer! Are you an expert in public finance, EU fiscal rules, debt sustainability and sustainability risks in macroeconomic analysis? Join us in Brussels📍to make finance serve society. Apply now 🔗 finance-watch.org/job/job-offe...

💥 Destructions, inassurabilité, sauvetages bancaires... sans action des autorités financières, les contribuables paieront la facture du risque climatique 3 fois. Il est temps de mobiliser les outils prudentiels pour une transition ordonnée. 👉 Lire www.finance-watch.org/leblog/risqu...

At Finance Watch, we've always called for #FinancialInclusion to go hand-in-hand with #ConsumerProtection. 🤝 @oecd-ocde.bsky.social makes the clear case that we need strong protections for everyone & targeted support for those who need it most. Consumer vulnerability is about context, not identity!

In a context of growing economic uncertainty, Finance Watch brought the public interest to #EUROFI in Warsaw. We pushed to: 🛟Resist deregulatory trends & protect safeguards like #Basel 🌿Stay the course on the #SustainableFinance agenda 🤖Ensure accountability rules in #Digitalisation & #AI

Another financial crisis is not inevitable. It is a political choice. Moral hazard is making a comeback, and the cost will once again fall on society. Read our latest blog to find out what is at stake and how civil society can respond. www.finance-watch.org/blog/the-sta...

Third we need to deal with the fact that focussing on growing the financial sector as an end in itself has led to prioritising the needs of international capital over domestic businesses, and increases our economic fragility. theguardian.com/news/2018/oc... /11

At the end of a slightly terrifying week, where a major financial crisis was averted – for now – I thought I’d reflect on whether such a crisis might happen anyway, and what this means for UK financial sector policy. A thread. /1