Latvijas Banka, the central bank of Latvia, has released its first sustainability disclosures report, providing transparency on its efforts to promote sustainable development and addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
The report, which covers the year 2022, highlights Latvijas Banka's commitment to sustainability and outlines its key achievements in areas such as climate-related risk mitigation, social responsibility, and governance. The report also details Latvijas Banka's governance, strategy and risk management practices as well as its approach to managing climate-related risks within non-monetary policy portfolios.
"Our sustainability disclosures report is an important milestone for Latvijas Banka as we continue to integrate sustainability into our investments and decision-making processes," said Mārtiņš Kazāks, Governor of Latvijas Banka. "We recognise the importance of sustainable development, and we are committed to playing our part in addressing global challenges such as climate change, preservation of biodiversity and inequality."
In the report, Latvijas Banka reveals that it has made significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint within its developed markets equity portfolio – compared to the previous year the carbon footprint of the portfolio decreased by 47%.
"We are proud to release our first climate-related disclosures report, which reflects our commitment to transparency and sustainability," said Mārtiņš Kazāks. "We believe that by addressing climate-related and sustainability issues, we can create long-term value for our society, contribute to a more sustainable future, and inspire the whole financial sector of Latvia to follow this lead."
Latvijas Banka's disclosures are part of an effort by all Eurosystem central banks to publish climate-related financial disclosures on their euro-denominated non-monetary policy portfolios using a common framework that defines minimum reporting requirements based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.