home
news

Joint statement on the reform of the EU legal framework on corporate transparency on sustainability matters

share this article

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:

  1. Expand the scope beyond large listed companies
  2. Disclose non-financial information in the annual management report
  3. Strengthen the social and governance aspects
  4. Develop minimum mandatory reporting requirements
  5. Build on existing reporting initiatives (to achieve comprehensive non-financial reporting)
  6. Keep up the international role for reporting standards
  7. Ensure legislative consistency and avoid duplication of reporting legislation

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).

Joint statement on the reform of the EU legal framework
    (
206 kB
)

You may also like these news

Join our support for the petition to protect drinking water access at the Czech/Polish/German border

Thirty thousand people in the Czech Republic’s Liberec region face a loss of access to drinking water due to the planned expansion of the Turów coal mine. This mine is planned to newly stretch outwards to just 150 meters from the Czech border and downwards to a depth below the bottom of the Baltic. The resulting drainage of Czech underground water is not just a threat to citizens; the drying out of the area would destroy entire local ecosystems and cause significant agricultural damage. A further increase to dust and noise levels is a threat as well. Furthermore, the end date for mining is to be delayed from 2020 out to 2044.

Grid Study II published: New scenarios of Czech coal phase-out

What would happen to Czech power grid in 2030 if all coal power plants were shut down? Even without coal-fired generation it is possible to ensure stable electricity supply in the Czech Republic, proves a study which we publicly presented in May 2018. Now we introduce new additional scenarios to the study, again analysed by Energynautics.

Leading academics publish crucial policy recommendations to make corporate governance more sustainable

With less than a decade left to address the threat of climate change, the EU Commission has launched its Green Deal. And today, the EU Finnish Presidency conference on company law and climate change addresses the emerging consensus that businesses need to be held accountable for their contribution.