Approach to sustainability
The Banco de Portugal, like most central banks and financial supervisors, has been incorporating environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) sustainability factors into its policies and internal management.
Environmental concerns and, within these, climate change-related concerns have received greater attention from the Banco de Portugal and central banks in general, as they constitute an important source of risk to the balance sheet of financial institutions and also because of the potential impact on the conduct of monetary policy.
The Banco de Portugal’s approach to ESG sustainability is reflected in the Acting for Sustainability document, which provides an integrated view of the Bank’s position and sets out the guidelines and priorities that will steer its actions in the next four-year period, in line with the Strategic Plan for 2021-25.
Until 2025 the Banco de Portugal will pursue three focus areas to enhance ESG sustainability within its mandate:
- Area 1 – Integrating climate risks into the missions of the Banco de Portugal
- Area 2 – Reinforcing ESG sustainability in internal management
- Area 3 – Promoting ESG awareness among employees and external stakeholders.
The initiatives to be accomplished under each focus area will be defined every year and monitored by the Sub-Committee for Sustainability and Sustainable Finance, the structure that coordinates ESG sustainability-related work at the Banco de Portugal.
TIMELINE

[Mar 2023] Climate-related financial disclosures of the Banco de Portugal's own financial assets - 2022
[Jan 2022] Acting for sustainability – The Banco de Portugal’s approach to ESG Sustainability 2022-25
[Nov 2021] The Banco de Portugal Pledge on Climate Action
[Mar 2020] Banco de Portugal’s Commitment to Sustainability and Sustainable Finance
[Jan 2020] Lisbon Green Capital 2020 commitment
[Jul 2019] Letter of commitment to sustainable financing in Portugal
Organisation | Group |
Central Banks and Supervisors' Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) | Plenary |
WSS - Workstream on Supervision | |
WSSDA - Workstream on Scenario Design and Analysis | |
WSMP - Workstream on Monetary Policy | |
WSNZ - Workstream on Net Zero for Central Banks | |
TFT - Task Force on Capacity Building and Training | |
TFN - Task Force on Biodiversity Loss and Nature-Related Risks | |
ENL – Expert Network on Legal Issues END – Expert Network on Data | |
BIS | Advisory Committee on Green Bond Initiative |
ECB | HLTF (High-Level Task Force on Climate Change-related SRI principles in non-monetary policy portfolios) |
ECCF - Eurosystem Climate Change Forum | |
MOC - Monitoring Working Group (MWG) - Sustainable and Responsible Investment Task Force (SURI) | |
MOC-RMC Workstreams on Climate Change | |
GT Green ECB (Environmental Network of Central Banks) Expert Group on Productivity - Climate Workstream IRC – Network on Climate Change (NCC) | |
ECB / Supervisory Board | NCA Climate Risk Contact Group |
EBA | SGSF - Subgroup on Sustainable Finance |
Sustainable Finance Network; | |
Sustainable Finance Network | |
ESRB | ESRB Joint ATC-FSC work on climate risk monitoring (WS1 – Data and measurement) |
ESRB Joint ATC-FSC work on climate risk monitoring (WS2 – Modelling climate risk and establishing a firmer base for policy instrument calibration) | |
ESRB Joint ATC-FSC work on climate risk monitoring (WS3 – Mapping a growing body of analytical findings to policy options) | |
Think Tank on Sustainable Finance | High-level format |
Technical format | |
CNSF | Contact group for sustainability and sustainable finance. |
Country level
- Law No 98/2021 of 31 December 2021; Climate Framework Law. (in Portuguese only)
- Circular Letter No CC/2021/00000010 of the Banco de Portugal, of 15 April 2021; Establishes supervisory expectations on the management of climate and environmental-related risks [for the less significant institutions under its direct supervision]. (in Portuguese only)
European level
- Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment; Taxonomy Regulation.
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178 of 6 July 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the content and presentation of information to be disclosed by undertakings subject to Articles 19a or 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU concerning environmentally sustainable economic activities, and specifying the methodology to comply with that disclosure obligation; Article 8 Disclosures Delegated Act.
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and for determining whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives; Climate Delegated Act. - Regulation (EU) 2019/2089 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 as regards EU Climate Transition Benchmarks, EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks and sustainability-related disclosures for benchmarks; Climate Benchmarks Regulation.
- Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector; Climate Disclosures Regulation.
- Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups; Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRI).
- Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, Directive 2004/109/EC, Directive 2006/43/EC and Directive 2013/34/EU, as regards corporate sustainability reporting.
[27.03.2023] Banco de Portugal publishes first report on climate-related financial disclosures of its own financial assets
[30.05.2022] Banco de Portugal publishes Responsible Investment Charter
[01.04.2022] NGFS discloses its annual report
[24.03.2022] NGFS discloses Statement on Nature-Related Financial Risks
[27.01.2022] Sustainability. Banco de Portugal presents vision and priorities for 2022-25
[14.12.2021] NGFS publishes Guide on climate-related disclosure for central banks
[03.11.2021] COP26. The Banco de Portugal publishes a Pledge on Climate Action
[26.10.2021] Climate-related and environmental risks. NGFS releases progress report on the guide for supervisors
[23.07.2021] The Banco de Portugal releases its first Sustainability Report
[08.06.2021] NGFS updates climate scenarios for forward-looking risk assessment
[26.05.2021] Financial sector. NGFS released Progress report on bridging data gaps
[15.04.2021] Banco de Portugal establishes supervisory expectations on the management of climate and environmental-related risks
[31.03.2021] NGFS discloses a report on sustainable finance market dynamics and a dashboard on scaling up green finance
[24.03.2021] NGFS publishes options to adapt monetary policy operations to climate change
[25.01.2021] Banco de Portugal participates in new BIS green bond fund
[10.09.2020] NGFS publishes documents on environmental risk analysis in the financial system
[05.03.2020] Banco de Portugal publishes commitment to sustainability and sustainable finance
[26.09.2019] Banco de Portugal takes part in BIS's ‘green bond fund’
[15.09.2022] Address by Director Luís Laginha de Sousa at the lunch of the ISEG Sustainable Finance Course – 4th edition
[02.03.2022] Address by Luís Laginha de Sousa at the opening lunch of the ISEG Sustainable Finance course
[25.05.2021] Address by Director Luís Laginha de Sousa at the ISCTE Conference on Research for Sustainability (in Portuguese only)
[06.03.2020] Interview with Director Luís Laginha de Sousa in the ECO newspaper (in Portuguese only)
[25.03.2022] Financial Stability webinar: Integrating Climate-related Risks into Banks’ Capital Requirements
[19.10.2021] XXXI Lisbon Meeting between the Central Banks of Portuguese-speaking Countries
Webinar: Climate change and climate finance - vídeo
Opening Address by Mário Centeno, Governor of the Banco de Portugal (in Portuguese only)
[15.03.2021] Green and digital investment highlighted as key to COVID-19 recovery by Banco de Portugal and EIB
[23.11.2020] Workshop on "Sustainability and Sustainable Finance - Session for the banking system"
Macroeconomic research and analyses
[Oct 2021] “Climate change and the economy”, Special Issue, Economic Bulletin, pp. 44-72
Financial stability and prudential supervision
The Banco de Portugal has improved the energy efficiency of its operations and reduced its carbon footprint.
In 2020, a new energy contract was concluded for all the Bank’s buildings, except the regional delegations of Azores and Madeira, which provides for the supply of 100% renewable energy.
Responsible investment
[Jan 2021] Banco de Portugal participates in new BIS green bond fund
[Sep 2019] Banco de Portugal takes part in BIS's ‘green bond fund’