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).
Following the European Commission’s announcement of its Omnibus Simplification Package at the end of February, both the Council and the European Parliament must now reach their own positions on the proposals, before the trilogue negotiations between all three bodies commence again.
At the end February, we exposed how the European Commission’s recently announced Omnibus proposals intend to modify corporate sustainability due diligence, reporting and taxonomy and how it will influence the effectiveness of these key legal frameworks.
After three months of rushed decision-making, the European Commission presented its Omnibus Simplification Package and proposed major rollbacks to the EU’s corporate sustainability legislation, threatening to undermine Europe's leadership in sustainable business practices and ESG reporting.
