More than 90 organisations representing civil society, business, banks and investor interests, express deep concern over the misrepresentation of EU sustainability reporting as a threat to competitiveness.
Our joint statement, published on 12 December, is a response to the recent omnibus proposal announcement by EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
The Commission has stated that scaling up sustainable finance is a major priority. Achieving that requires access to consistent and reliable information on businesses’ sustainability performance, enabling better transparency and comparability.
Sustainability reporting is a vital tool for businesses, enabling companies to manage risks, identify opportunities, and drive long-term growth. The statement highlights the flexible and proportional nature of the framework and offers practical solutions to address overcompliance challenges.
At a moment where European leaders are seeking to boost competitiveness and attract major financing to support companies’ sustainability transition, the EU sustainability reporting framework plays a key role in protecting the EU market and levelling the playing field with global players.
The statement signatories call on European and national policymakers to focus on supporting a smart and easy implementation of EU sustainability reporting standards, instead of playing ping-pong with the legal framework.
Read the full statement here: Smart implementation of EU sustainability reporting standards: make complying with rules easy
Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis already announced in January that following the publication of the Green Deal and the initiation of the revision of the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), he would invite EFRAG to “undertake preparatory work for the elaboration of possible EU non-financial reporting standards”.
A group of leading organisations in the field of sustainable finance, including Frank Bold, issued a joint statement with recommendations for the upcoming revision of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive*.
In December Frank Bold team co-organised a meeting of NGOs and representatives of the Member States of the European Union. The all-day meeting in Brussels was prepared in cooperation with our colleagues from European Environmental Bureau and Client Earth.