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*.
The current COVID-19 crisis has shown how economic, social and environmental aspects are interlinked and the need to put in place the right tools and incentives for each stakeholder from both public and private sector to play its role. The European Commission indicated in its recently published consultation on a renewed Sustainable Finance strategy that companies should prioritise key stakeholders’ long-term interest. We see the revision of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive as an important element of achieving this.
As a group of stakeholders with different backgrounds, but a common interest in sustainable finance, we believe the following matters are instrumental in the upcoming revision of the NFRD to make a leap forward in improving the quality, comparability and consistency of information on environmental, social and governance matters:
You can read the full statement, which includes further details for each of the above recommendations below.
*The group is formed by ACCA, Accountancy Europe, Association of German Banks (BdB), CDSB, EFAMA, Frank Bold, IIGCC, Schroders, ShareAction, WWF who came together in an informal platform for collaboration and discussion on crucial EU policy issues on sustainability. The statement was also supported by BNP Paribas AM and Candriam (while not being part of the informal group itself).
In mid-December, the European Commission acknowledged a large part of the arguments put forward by the Czechia in an effort to prevent the expansion and continuation of illegal mining at the Turów mine in Poland, that endangers the sources of drinking water for thousands of people in the Liberec region and, according to new studies, has serious impacts on groundwater in Germany as well. Frank Bold's lawyers, who defend the interests of Czech citizens, have long been involved in the case.
The Frank Bold Society and the Neighbourhood Association Uhelná called on the Czech government today to be more consistent in its negotiations with Poland over mining at the Turów brown coal mine. According to both organisations, the government did not have enough information or time to prepare an agreement that would truly protect Czech interests. Moreover, the government has acted in a non-transparent manner by failing to inform the public in advance of the terms of the agreement being prepared, which should lead to the withdrawal of the action against Poland at the EU Court of Justice. The organisations have therefore drawn up a document with seven basic demands on which the Czech side should insist.
The European Commission recently introduced a draft of the revised EU ETS Directive which, among other things, proposes that 100 % of ETS revenues should be used for environmental measures. We welcome this idea but we’re also sceptical about how the ETS revenues are used in the Czech Republic. Therefore, we have prepared an analysis mapping the use of ETS revenues in Czech Republic and sent it to the European Commission as an input for the recent public consultation. The main conclusions are presented below.
