We've compared the different positions of the European Commission, Council of the EU and the European Parliament on the review of the SFDR. Read below our recommendations for this trilogue.
Trilogue negotiations on the SFDR review are due to start on 22 October and envisioned to finish by the end of 2026.
Parliament's text is the strongest of the three on most issues. Its main weakness is ESG Basics: retail investors receive a single indicator on fossil fuel exposure and little other information from which to assess performance, which risks perpetuating the catch-all character of Article 8 under SFDR 1.0.
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Below, we set out our three priorities for the trilogue and the specific solutions we recommend to address them.
Parliament requires a single indicator for ESG Basics, exposure to the fossil fuel sector, and this must be retained. We ask that Parliament's own Transition wording be applied to Article 8, so that ESG Basics products report GHG emissions and fossil fuel exposure, together with one further indicator selected for relevance. This corresponds to the three indicators required by Council for Transition and Sustainable.
Council limits the effect of safe harbour to points (a) to (c) of the first subparagraph, so that PAI disclosure under point (d) continues to apply to products using the bypass. Parliament deems all conditions met. We ask the co-legislators to support the Council's scope.
The Commission proposal contains no opt-out, and we ask the co-legislators to maintain this position. If an opt-out is retained, Parliament's version is preferable to Council's, because it requires that no retail investor has access to the fund and requires a pre-contractual statement of non-categorisation.
Join us for our upcoming webinar where we will present the key findings from our analysis of sustainability disclosures by 15 largest investors and 45 investment funds.
This spring, the European Commission's ETIP SNET platform released a study on the impact of energy communities on the grid. The analysis was followed up in August by the major pan-European CIGRE conference, where study authors discussed their findings with energy experts, including scientists and grid operators. They concluded that well-structured energy communities could benefit the grid if supported by the regulatory framework and other market participants.
The study on the sustainability disclosures of 100 influential companies from high-impact sectors provides an early reflection on the general readiness for businesses in the EU to meet the expectations of the upcoming EU sustainability rules and standards. Our report contributes to identifying the main challenges, as well as to highlight emerging good practices.