Matthias Hübner
ESG BOOK
What does sustainable finance mean to you?
Matthias Hübner: For me, sustainable finance means, above all, taking into account the sustainability of a company or an asset as a third, equal dimension in addition to the classic parameters such as return and risk when making investment decisions. This is not only about today’s ESG performance, but also about supporting portfolio companies or borrowers with capital in their own transformation towards better sustainability, i.e. transition finance rather than pure disinvestment.
What is the key to a successful further development of the sustainable finance movement?
Hübner: Investors and companies would benefit if a global standard for sustainability were to be established. Currently, there is a proliferation of frameworks that ask similar questions but differ in detail. This drives up complexity and costs without creating real added value. It also scares away many people who think sustainability is complicated, which it really is not. This is where we have high hopes for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) – welcome to Frankfurt!
What role does ESG Book play here?
Hübner: We help financial market participants make better investment decisions and allocate capital more efficiently to have a sustainable impact. A key to this is access to high-quality and comparable data, in many areas also additional to the information already available today. But in parallel, the capacity to process this data and draw the right conclusions from it. This is where technology support comes into play, because the human brain is quickly overwhelmed by this.
“For me, sustainable finance means, above all, taking into account the sustainability of a company or an asset as a third, equal dimension in addition to the classic parameters such as return and risk when making investment decisions.”
What is your personal goal?
Hübner: In my role as the person responsible for our business in the DACH region, I would like to support financial institutions as well as entrepreneurs in becoming more sustainable. Our ESG Book platform connects both sides and enables a fact-based and focused dialogue between the financial world and the real economy on sustainability issues. Which particular strengths does a company have and where does it still need to catch up? And how can investors accompany a company on its way there with advice and action?