Sustainable finance – a deluge of activity…

Here’s a note from the “International Sustainable Finance Centre” (ISFC):

Yesterday, 18 October, was a busy day in sustainable finance!

✅ The European Parliament voted in favour of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards or ESRS, which means that mandatory sustainability reporting will now apply to 50,000 companies from January 2024 onwards. From 2028, non-EU companies operating in Europe will also need to report using the ESRS or equivalent standards.

✅ The European Commission published its work programme for 2024, listing several sustainability and climate-related actions related to the EU Green Deal as one of EU’s headline ambitions. Proposals in the plan include launching the process to establish a 2040 climate target, presenting the European wind power package aimed at accelerating the deployment of wind turbines, launch of an initiative on industrial carbon management including a strategy for sustainable carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and adoption of an initiative on water resilience. During the rest of the current Commission’s mandate, the priority is also to finalise proposals related to sustainable farming and food security, circular economy proposals including the eco-design requirements for sustainable products, waste and packaging, and ones related to bringing into law proposals on nature restoration, classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals, air quality, urban wastewater treatment, and surface and groundwater protection. The full work programme is available on EC’s website.

✅ EFRAG also published its work programme for 2024, outlining the key focus areas.

✅ The European Commission> has opened a consultation on “Administrative burden – rationalisation of reporting requirements”, with the goal to reduce burdens by 25%, without undermining the related policy objectives.

📌 “ESG Clarity” has a short article about yesterday’s vote and the ESRS alignment with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

📌 Anne Lenglet from PwC France shared a useful roundup of the main developments on LinkedIn.

📌 Eurosif – The European Sustainable Investment Forum’s position on the final European Sustainability Reporting Standards is a useful read.

📍 The visualisation of ESRS by Greenomy comes from Greenomy’s blog on ESRS.