Abstract
Financial institutions can make a substantial contribution to promoting the principles of sustainable development among their main stakeholders, namely portfolio investors and financial consumers. The challenges posed by climate change have led to the intensification of the financial innovation process and the emergence of new financial instruments such as green bonds and sustainability indices. Their success was due both to the involvement of international institutions that have developed various voluntary principles for companies and to portfolio investors who understood their role in the new context and bought new types of securities. Therefore, the efforts of both sides are bearing fruit in an environment in which confidence must be regained after the earthquake generated by the international financial crisis and the image crisis that financial institutions are facing.