On January 16, the World Economic Forum hosted its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland where economists warned of the likelihood of a global recession this year. In a survey of over 4,000 business leaders, 73% believe there will be a decline in global growth. The major risks cited by experts at this talk were of inflation, macroeconomic volatility, and geopolitical conflict, with long-term concerns over climate, supply chain pressures and technological disruption.

On May 17, the EU Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee announced a series of proposals establishing new rigorous rules for the EU Commission’s regulation of the green bond market. The proposal aims to improve transparency and monitoring of the green bond market in an effort to reduce greenwashing.

On March 14, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a new report reviewing the progress of European banks on disclosing climate risks. The ECB concludes that while banks are making advancements on disclosing environment related risks, the level of transparency being provided is still insufficient.

The February 28 Treasury Preliminary Report of Foreign Portfolio Holdings compares June 30 2021 data with the same date in 2020 and breaking out ABS holdings at $1.56 trillion, up from $1.489 trillion in 2020.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is facing criticism over its plans to classify natural gas and nuclear energy as “green” investments. The proposal introduced late on New Year’s Eve will be included in the EU’s taxonomy and intends to provide a common set of definitions of what constitutes a “sustainable investment” in Europe.

On October 19, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the publication of a new report, Greening Finance: A Roadmap to Sustainable Investing, outlining the country’s strategy for implementation of new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) for investors and businesses. These latest requirements align with standards set by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

On Friday, October 1, SFA submitted a response to The European Commission’s (EC) Targeted Consultation on the Functioning of the EU Securitisation Framework.

September 2, in coordination with other global trades, SFA submitted a unified response to Her Majesty’s Treasury Call for Evidence regarding securitization regulations in the UK. In order to show global alignment, SFA, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, UK Finance, and the Australian Securitisation Forum submitted identical language regarding ambiguity around the geographical scope of the EU/UK Securitization Regulation's requirements and how this has impeded securitization transactions.

Reuters reports U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to push for a global minimum corporate tax rate above the 15% that was previously agreed to by 130 countries last week. The deal is widely expected to be endorsed by G20 finance leaders when they meet this weekend in Venice, Italy for the International Conference on Climate.

In coordination with the celebration of Earth Day, the Biden administration is hosting 40 world leaders in Washington, D.C., for the Leaders Summit on Climate taking place April 22 and 23. The goal of the Summit is to underscore the urgent need for stronger climate action and highlight the economic benefits of doing so "with a strong emphasis on job creation, and the importance of ensuring all communities and workers benefit from the transition to a new clean energy economy."