The fifth edition of the ESG Warsaw conference took place at the Warsaw Stock Exchange on 12 September 2023. Experts from the Polish financial market discussed global ESG trends, how to assess good practices and pursue sustainable finance in Poland. The event was organised by GPW, Goldman Sachs TFI, CFA Society Poland, and Erste Securities Polska.
ESG Warsaw is one of the most important sustainability events for capital market participants in Poland. The conference is addressed both to companies that want to implement a green strategy and to institutional investors who consider companies’ sustainability engagement in their investment decisions. This year, conference participants learned about the latest trends in sustainable investments and best practices of companies in ESG strategy implementation.
The conference organisers unequivocally confirmed that sustainability is becoming an integral part of the functioning of capital markets around the world. “The Warsaw Stock Exchange has been supporting companies in meeting their ESG reporting obligations for years. We offer training courses in this area and we are developing an ESG Manager postgraduate programme in cooperation with the Kraków School of Business. We published the ESG Reporting Guidelines in 2021, which will be updated this year. As a group of companies, we are focusing on ESG, as well. It is a key pillar of GPW’s new Strategy 2023-2027 and the GPW Group’s ESG Strategy 2025. We want to develop our ESG product offering for investors and support issuers in complying with the new ESRS reporting obligations,” said Izabela Olszewska, Member of the GPW Management Board.
Rather than being perceived by companies as a transient trend, ESG must be seen as an inherent part of their business models and an opportunity for growth. Analysts want to know how companies incorporate ESG factors into their operations and whether they are included in their business strategy. Issuers that do not make non-financial disclosures may be less interesting to investors and pay a higher cost of raising capital. During the debate, participants discussed what support companies need to go through a green transition. Experts talked about the support that should be offered in order to issue green bonds, as well as transition bonds and sustainability bonds. They stressed the importance of focusing on outcomes and deploying systemic solutions to achieve them.
“The key challenges we face are, first of all, to consider ESG as a factor in business. As many as 99.8 percent of Polish business are SMEs that cannot afford the green transition, bond issuance or reporting costs. That is why it is crucial to give them necessary support. The third factor, no less important, is ESG data, which are needed here and now,” said Izabela Olszewska.
The conference was opened by Professor Krzysztof Jajuga, President of CFA Society Poland, who pointed out that Europe is at the forefront of ESG investments. He stressed that the importance of sustainability investments is growing with next generations entering the market. Agata Misztela van Zwieten, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, outlined global ESG investment trends. Robert Bohynik, Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer at Goldman Sachs TFI, and Bartłomiej Chyłek, Director of the Analysis Team at Goldman Sachs TFI talked about assessment of good governance and what it means for companies to integrate ESG in their investment process. Wiktor Mokrzycki, Vice-President MoBruk S.A., discussed ESG aspects in industrial waste processing.
Olga Kozłowska of Cyfrowy Polsat presented the challenges of reporting EU taxonomy compliance. Government High Representative for Capital Market Development Strategy Katarzyna Szwarc talked about the role of transition finance in the context of the sustainable finance roadmap in Poland. The conference concluded with a debate on the role of transition plans in access to capital, chaired by Wojciech Lewandowski of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The speakers included Zofia Wetmańska of the Climate Bonds Initiative, Łukasz Dobrowolski of Climate Strategies Poland, and Michał Szalast-Dao Quy of BNP Paribas.
The conference webcast is available at the Warsaw Stock Exchange YT channel.
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The Warsaw Stock Exchange Group (GPW Group) operates trading platforms for shares, Treasury and corporate bonds, derivatives, electricity and gas, and provides indices and benchmarks including WIBOR and WIBID. The index agent FTSE Russell classifies the Polish capital market as a Developed Market since 2018. The markets operated by the GPW Group are the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe. For more information, visit www.gpw.pl
