Venice Sustainability Foundation has launched a pilot project to assess the economic and financial impacts of ESG risk on credit access, in collaboration with the Department of Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and powered by the KnowShape spin-off platform. The initiative aims to test a shared standard to help businesses and banking institutions progressively align with new regulatory requirements.
The proposed standard, developed at the Transpareens center within the Department of Economics, has already been published by the European Commission and discussed in advance with leading national banks. For each participating company, the project identifies ESG risks—with a focus on climate risks—evaluates their impact on income statements and balance sheets, and delivers a standardized report detailing the level of climate risk adaptation and quantifying potential effects on business continuity. Subsequently, the initiative will establish a bank-business discussion table to explore practical ways to integrate this standardized information into SME credit risk assessments.
The project fits into the framework of implementing the new European Banking Authority (EBA) Guidelines, published on January 8, 2025, and in effect since January 11, 2026. It was designed to streamline this regulatory transition by making bank-business dialogue more structured, transparent, and standardized. The Confindustria System of the Veneto Region (Sistema Confindustriale Veneto) selected the sample of participating companies.
VSF and KnowShape will guide participating businesses through every stage of the process, from initial risk identification to sharing the final results. The pilot project's findings will help companies gain clear insight into the financial quantification of their climate risk exposure and determine optimal communication strategies for banks. Concurrently, the results will enable banks to evaluate and discuss a standardized information flow with businesses to feed credit processes in accordance with the new regulatory requirements.
