Financial Markets and the Challenges of Sustainable Growth

Sustainable growth and responsibility for the economy and the environment are postulates rarely associated with the term “financial market”. Financial markets are identified with the ruthless maximisation of profit at acceptable risk, rather than with socially responsible conduct. However, in the global economy businesses modify their priorities and become aware of not just the need to grow in financial terms but also to improve their quality performance. International financial markets have become part of this trend and are increasingly often adopting environmentally friendly attitudes and embracing the challenges posed by the concept of sustainable growth. Ideas such as CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – and SRI – Socially Responsible Investment are gaining in importance. While sustainable growth of the economy as perceived from the point of view of the manufacturing or service sectors is widely discussed, the sustainable growth of financial markets is a relatively new concept and the available literature on “green” financial markets is quite scarce. This paper is intended to fill in this gap and examine the changes that have taken place on financial markets in the context of the idea of sustainable growth, with particular attention paid to the European Union markets

Environmental information disclosure: a cross-country analysis from European Union public companies

One of the contemporary challenges related to climate change and effectively managing raw materials is to reduce resource consumption and the negative environmental impact while simultaneously increasing the economy’s competitiveness. This requires that business entities change priorities and move to a sustainable relationship focused on ecological, economic and social well-being. Due to the transnational and global nature of the climate and the environment, actions in this area should be carried out at a supranational level. In European Union (EU) countries, successive directives are implemented regarding environmental changes and the taxonomy for non-financial reporting. This forces public companies, as large public interest units, to produce adequate quality data reporting in the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) area, including the environmental (E) indicator and its components. The article’s purpose is to make a comparative assessment of the current situation and to consider the prospects for environmental data disclosure by public companies listed on the regulated markets of the EU, with particular emphasis on energy consumption, water, waste production, and CO2 emissions. The Refinitiv database was used to test the quality of the environmental indicators. Public companies listed on the leading stock markets in the 27 EU Member States were included. The research period covers 2012–2021. We focus on checking how many companies report environmental data in any given year, and those that present them for at least one year, or for three, five, or ten years. The findings support the clear advantage of the quality of environmental data disclosure in the ‘old’ EU Member States (which joined before 2004) compared to the ‘new’ EU Member States. However, reporting on key environmental issues (water and energy consumption, waste production, and carbon dioxide) is very incomplete

Wpływ procesów prywatyzacyjnych na rozwój rynku kapitałowego w Polsce. Lata 1990-1996

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Great Britain and the Euro Zone

Great Britain is one of the two EU 15 countries which refused to join the Economic- Monetary Union. Despite the passage of time, Great Britain’s stand on this matter has not changed, although the last worldwide economic crisis and its consequences intensified discussion whether from Great Britain’s point of view it is worth considering possibilities of joining the euro zone. The aim of the paper is to present determinants of functioning of Great Britain in the European Union and an analysis of possible opportunities and threats which are connected with its accession to the single-currency area. Looking at the history of Great Britain, one may have an impression that what is more important for that country is keeping independence and remaining a “world” economy than turning the potential benefits to its advantage at the cost of resignation form independence and degradation to the role of a “European” country. Especially that the current economic crisis has revealed the weaknesses of the euro zone and proved that the zone as a whole has not worked out proper mechanisms of operating in a crisis situation

Evaluation of the external stability of Poland in the years 2000–2012

This year ten years have passed since Poland became a member of the European Union. The full liberalization of capital flows between Poland and the EU, the OECD, and the EEA was one of the key changes resulting from this membership. The purpose of this article is to analyse selected indicators that define the external stability in the light of the growing involvement of foreign capital in the Polish economy, which is a consequence of that opening. The indicators examined in the article do not give a clear reason for concern; however, there is no doubt that Poland exceeds the thresholds defined by the EU to the current account balance and net IIP referred to the GDP. This means that there is a need to monitor the consequences of rising presence of foreign capital in the Polish economy from the point of view of the conditions of its external stability in the coming years

Podstawy funkcjonowania rynku finansowego Unii Europejskiej. Wyzwania zrównoważonego rozwoju

Publikacja dotyczy problematyki współczesnych finansów międzynarodowych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem funkcjonowania międzynarodowego systemu finansowego. Opracowanie składa się z trzech części: pierwsza przedstawia genezę międzynarodowego systemu walutowego i uwarunkowania działania pieniądza światowego w gospodarce globalnej, druga wprowadza w zasady budowy i funkcjonowania jednolitego rynku finansowego Unii Europejskiej, z uwzględnieniem wyzwań zrównoważonego rozwoju rynków finansowych, trzecia koncentruje się na podmiotach działających w ramach międzynarodowego systemu finansowego (monetarnych instytucjach finansowych oraz funduszach inwestycyjnych, ubezpieczeniowych i emerytalnych). Książka przygotowana została z wykorzystaniem światowej literatury przedmiotu oraz aktualnych danych. W opracowaniu uwzględnione zostały również najnowsze trendy obecne w gospodarce globalnej, na uwagę zasługuje analiza ekologicznego wymiaru funkcjonowania rynków finansowych. Istotnymi zaletami książki są różnorodność i aktualność poruszonej problematyki. Publikacja adresowana jest przede wszystkim do studentów kierunków ekonomicznych: międzynarodowe stosunki gospodarcze, finanse międzynarodowe, ekonomia, a także do czytelników chcących pogłębić wiedzę z zakresu finansów międzynarodowych, zainteresowanych zmianami zachodzącymi we współczesnym międzynarodowym systemie finansowym.Publikacja została przygotowana w ramach projektu „Utworzenie nowych interdyscyplinarnych programów kształcenia w zakresie ekonomii ochrony środowiska (w języku polskim i angielskim) w Uniwersytecie Łódzkim” współfinansowanego ze środków funduszy norweskich i krajowych. (Nr umowy FSS/2014/HEI/W/0124/U/0014)