OOur existence depends on what we eat, and the water that we drink. All of these are taken as a given. Climate change is a danger to our most valuable assets. This impact often gets overlooked in daily decision making and can be under or completely absent from economic analyses. We must change our behaviour and begin to value these natural resources in order to protect them.
To help us all contribute to a sustainable world, we need to understand each other’s impact on the climate and the environment. Mandatory food labeling, for example, shows ingredients and levels of nutrition. This allows us to make informed choices and assess the healthiness of food. Climate labeling allows you to evaluate how safe a product is for the environment, and then make educated decisions. Banks must also be aware of the impact that their loans have on the environment when they make loan decisions. Both the financial sector and economy benefit from consistent, clear and comparable disclosure requirements. As a central bank and supervisor, the ECB pushes banks to manage and disclose their climate-related and environmental risks. The ECB encourages businesses to comply.
Transparency is essential to help us value natural resources and make informed economic decisions. This will allow us to allocate money more effectively towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and creating a positive effect on the environment. Let’s get this done before 2030.
Here are more must-read stories from TIME
