This chapter discusses the importance of decision-making and agency problems in bank governance with particular focus on the role of the board of directors in addressing sustainability risks that are increasingly affecting the banking business. It considers traditional agency theories that underpin corporate governance and suggests that they do not offer a full explanation of the ‘collective’ agency problems that exist in large complex organisations, such as banks and other financial institutions. Human agency theory offers an alternative theory that emphasises the importance of organisational culture in determining standards, norms and values that influence agent behaviour. As to bank boards, the chapter stresses that although their role is primary, regulatory intervention may be necessary to ensure that organisational practices are adequately managing agency problems regarding sustainability concerns. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for how bank governance and business practices could be improved to support society’s sustainability objectives.

The chapter analyses disclosure obligations of environmental and social sustainability risks that apply to companies in light of the growing importance to disclose sustainability risks. In doing so, it discusses the potential cross-border strategies for countries to develop international standards to support global convergence. It considers the international developments justifying the rationale for sustainability-related disclosures along with a discussion of the three models of cross-border disclosure regulation: (i) the home state approach, (ii) the host state approach and (iii) the equivalence approach. The chapter argues that the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) (2022) has adopted a mix-and-match model between the host state approach and the equivalence approach. Our analysis emphasises the extraterritoriality of EU sustainability disclosure regulation and compares it with the models followed by the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland. The different sustainability disclosure requirements between EU countries and non-EU countries suggests, therefore, that cross-border regulatory coordination is important. The paper recommends a model of ESG disclosure for capital markets that is based on the EU policy of equivalence modified by a recognition of the compliance approaches of certain foreign jurisdictions.

The introduction provides an overview of the reasons why sustainable finance is high in the regulatory agenda, in the EU and increasingly elsewhere. It shows how the EU started to follow up on the UN goals for a more sustainable development, and how it translated those goals, first into its action plans and then into regulatory measures. The case for sustainability as a tool to manage climate and environmental risks is then explained. The introduction then summarises the contents and the main results of each chapter within the collection.

Sets out what central banks can and must contribute to the sustainability agenda, especially on climate change, given their existing mandates and objectives. That includes monetary policy, financial stability, prudential regulation, balance sheet-management and even bank notes. Central banks do not need and should not wait for changes to their legal duties, because climate change is a material influence on all their existing responsibilities. Meanwhile, macroeconomic stability is a pre-requisite for the wider sustainability agenda and so there needs to be a continuing priority focus on monetary and financial stability.

The one bad apple spoiling the barrel has become a common metaphor to describe risk culture in organisations. This ‘inside-out’ perspective begins with the individual as the unit of analysis and follows with inferences to the broader environment. Since the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008, risk culture for many has become the explanation for shortcomings, poor decisions and moral failures in organisations. We present an institutional perspective of some of the forces that shape risk culture in organisations.