The report surrounds the premise that the Grand Duchy presents the image of a sustainable finance centre, when in reality, there is a long way to go in terms of sustainability.
Luxembourg is Europe's largest, and the world's second-largest, fund location, thus contributing to the funding of the global climate crisis, say Greenpeace. As a result, the organisation commissioned an independent analysis into the country's top one hundred investment funds and their activity in 2019.
Certain criteria were taken into consideration for the report, including funds invested into fossil fuel companies known for contributing to pollution, as well as other carbon-intensive industries.
The 100 largest funds in Luxembourg were said to emit on average 10% more greenhouse gases than the MSCI World Index, which was used as a benchmark for the analysis. On average, the report found that the investment funds contributed an average increase of 4 degrees Celsius to global temperatures predicted for the next 40 years - significantly more than the climate targets presented by the Paris Agreement.
Greenpeace concluded that there was a long way to go before Luxembourg's financial centre could claim sustainability, and appealed for more government regulation within the sector.
