Let me start with the invitations 😊 The day after tomorrow, on Wednesday 23 September from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., we're running a free webinar in which we'll talk about how we at MATERIALITY worked on our own sustainability report. It will be fast-paced, practical and straight to the point. Almost the entire team that worked on the report will share their experience. You'll find more information and the registration link here.
A week later, on 29–30 September 2026, the 5th "Czas na ESG" Conferencetakes place. An interesting programme and excellent speakers, and if you're going, do drop by the MATERIALITY stand, where you'll be able to see PowerESRS in action, our software supporting ESG data monitoring and report preparation.
On Thursday 17 September, in turn, I had the pleasure of taking part in the 3rd Sustainable Finance Forum, POLSIF's main annual conference. My main impression from a series of presentations was that there is considerably more energy around sustainability in the financial sector than among non-financial companies. Where does that come from?
Mainly, I think, from the fact that financial institutions, at least those present at the Forum, have internalised thinking about sustainability in terms of risks and opportunities, and their impact on a company's finances, to a far greater degree. There was talk of changing regulations too, of course. Complaints about the Omnibus came down to little more than the observation that getting data from companies will now be harder. But most of the presentations were about the success of the EU Green Bonds standard (it is barely 15 months old and a series of issues with a combined value of EUR 30 billion has been carried out under it, all heavily oversubscribed), or the development of the Taxonomy (did you know that the EU already has over a trillion euro of environmentally sustainable CapEx?), or the opportunities linked to the approaching conclusion of the SFDR review and the possibility of organising investments transparently under labels people can understand (ESG Basics, Sustainable and Transition, rather than the odd "Article 8", "Article 9" and so on).
What the representatives of banks and funds were discussing is cause for optimism. The expectations of these institutions feed through to what companies do with some delay, but always with absolute effectiveness. While the transport industry is conventionally said to be the barometer of the real economy's condition, in sustainability that role is played by financial institutions 😊
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