On June 30, 2022, the major econsense event “ecolution 2022 – Sustainable Finance” took place as a hybrid event in Berlin. At the AXICA Congress and Conference Center on Pariser Platz, 160 participants from Germany’s largest companies across many industries, as well as other stakeholders from politics, business, civil society, and academia, gathered together. In addition, 130 guests followed the event online.

International climate targets and the EU Green Deal set the objectives for the transformation of our economy. Sustainable finance and disclosure requirements for the business sector are essential tools for implementing these targets. How can these tools be most effectively utilized? How can the real economy and the financial sector jointly shape the implementation of these requirements? These and other questions related to sustainable finance were at the heart of ecolution 2022.

The newly elected econsense Chairman, Daniel Schmid, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP, opened ecolution 2022 with a rousing call for greater sustainability and collaboration. He outlined the work of econsense and the importance of networking as well as ecolution. This offers the opportunity to gain a different perspective and exchange views on current sustainability issues. Sustainable finance, he noted, serves as the toolkit to accelerate this transformation and is therefore of utmost importance.

Sarah Ryglewski, Member of the German Bundestag and Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor, set the political framework for the event. In her speech, she highlighted the needs and priorities the federal government identifies regarding sustainability. She situated these within the German Sustainability Strategy and the federal government’s coalition agreement. She noted that policymakers can only provide the levers for change; implementation is the responsibility of practitioners.

The first panel at ecolution consisted of Nina Jais, Managing Director at Accenture, and the board members of econsense member companies: Dr. Stephan Leithner, Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Börse AG; Nikolas Speer, Chief Risk Officer, HSBC Germany; and Dr. Marc Spieker, Chief Financial Officer, E.ON SE. The panel focused on the question of what sustainability goals companies set for themselves and how sustainable finance defines the framework conditions for the financial support of the real economy’s

and thus contributes to the achievement of these goals.

Following this, Dr. Katja Kirchstein, Senior Advisor for Sustainable Finance at WWF Germany; Sabine Pex, Head of Division at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection (BMUV); Magdalena Podoska, Head of Sustainability Goals, Governance, and Reporting at the BMW Group; and Silke Stremlau, Member of the Executive Board at Hannoversche Kassen, discussed the effective design of sustainable finance. The panel examined the questions of what information must be disclosed to accelerate the reallocation of capital toward relevant activities and how corporate reporting can be designed to be efficient and tailored to the intended audience.

The afternoon of ecolution began with three parallel sessions in which participants actively engaged. The first session focused on sustainability reporting with Dr. Kati Beiersdorf, Technical Director, German Accounting Standards Committee (DRSC); Christian Heller, CEO, Value Balancing Alliance; and Dr. Lothar Rieth, Head of Sustainability, EnBW AG. The second session focused on the EU Taxonomy, with an emphasis on environmental goals 3–6 as well as a potential social taxonomy. The panelists for the session were Kristina Jeromin, Managing Director, Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany; Jens Reissmann, Project Lead for EU Taxonomy Reporting, Bayer AG; Dr. Matthias Schmidt, Director of Sustainability Assurance | Center of Expertise, Deloitte; and Silke Thomas, Cluster Lead for Sustainable Finance & ESG Performance, Deutsche Telekom AG. In addition, a digital session on ESG data took place. Participants in this session included: Nina Jais, Managing Director, Accenture; Till Jung, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG Products, ISS ESG; Alexandra Molnár, Sustainability Strategy Senior Manager, Accenture; Kristina Rüter, Managing Director and Global Head of Methodology, ISS ESG; and Kenneth Wee, Managing Director, Accenture.

The keynote address by Katharina Beck, Member of the German Bundestag and Financial Policy Spokesperson for Bündnis90/Die Grünen, focused on how policymakers can decisively advance sustainable finance. She particularly emphasized the need to ensure that value creation takes place within planetary boundaries and discussed how to move in this direction.

The concluding panel at ecolution focused on expectations for the new federal government regarding sustainable economic policy. The panelists included Katharina Beck, Member of the German Bundestag (MdB) and spokesperson for financial policy for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen; Prof. Dr. Kerstin Lopatta, Professor of Business Administration, specializing in external accounting, auditing, and sustainability, at the University of Hamburg; Stefan Schnell, Senior Vice President – Head of Group Reporting & Performance Management, BASF SE; Katarin Wagner, Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Germany; and Dr. Eva Wimmer, Head of the Financial Market Policy Division, Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

The ecolution event was rounded out by open discussions on and off stage as well as on-site networking. Event partners for ecolution 2022 were Accenture Strategy and Deutsche Börse. Deloitte was a sponsor of the event, and Tagesspiegel Background Sustainable Finance was the media partner.