sustainable finance

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The guidelines set out requirements for institutions regarding the identification, measurement, management, and monitoring of ESG risks.

By Axel Schiemann, Paul A. Davies, and Nicola Higgs

On 9 January 2025, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its final guidelines on the management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks. The guidelines have been developed in line with the EBA’s roadmap on sustainable finance and as part of the EBA’s actions outlined in the roadmap on the implementation of the…

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The regime will have broad reach, although its implementation will likely take several years.

By Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins

On 14 November 2024, HM Treasury laid out the future UK regulatory regime for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings providers. It previously consulted on proposals for the new regime in spring 2023 (see this Latham blog post).

HM Treasury has now confirmed:

“With the global ESG market predicted to surpass $40…

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The UK Chancellor announces a growth-focused agenda for financial services.

By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins

On 14 November 2024, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered her first Mansion House speech. She used her speech as an opportunity to announce reforms designed to drive growth and competitiveness in financial services, stating that many of the regulatory changes introduced to eliminate risk after the financial crisis had “gone too far” and led to unintended consequences. Although she did not announce a swathe of deregulatory measures, this speech sets the tone for how the government will likely approach regulation in the financial services sector going forward.

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The FAQs aim to clarify key aspects of the CSRD, including the scope of the rules, compliance dates, and exemptions.

By Paul A. Davies, Axel Schiemann, Michael D. Green, James Bee, and Lasse Winzer

On 7 August 2024, the European Commission (Commission) published a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the interpretation of certain provisions of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The FAQs aim to facilitate compliance and ensure the usability and comparability of…

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The draft represents the next step in transposing the CSRD into national law.

By Axel Schiemann and Dominik Schöneberger

On 24 July 2024, the German Federal Government adopted the governmental draft of the Act implementing the EU Directive on Sustainability Reporting (Directive (EU) 2022/2464 – CSRD) into German law (the Government Draft). The adoption of the Government Draft constitutes the next significant step in the legislative process after the German Ministry of Finance published the first draft implementing law on…

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The ESAs urge the European Commission to consider a labelling rather than a disclosure regime to help consumers understand the sustainability goals of financial products.

By Nicola Higgs, Jaime Martin, Sara Sayma, and Charlotte Collins

On 18 June 2024, the European Supervisory Authorities — the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), collectively the ESAs — published a joint opinion on the Sustainable Finance…

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Guidelines indicate when asset managers may legitimately use ESG or sustainability-related terms in their fund names.

By Nicola Higgs, Laura Ferrell, and Charlotte Collins

On 14 May 2024, ESMA published its final Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG- or sustainability-related terms. The Guidelines aim to address the risk of funds’ names misleading investors by ensuring that their names can be supported in a material way by evidence of sustainability characteristics or objectives that are reflected fairly and consistently in the fund’s investment objectives and policy.

ESMA originally consulted on the Guidelines in November 2022 (see this blog post), but finalisation has been delayed while reviews of the AIFMD and UCITS Directive were completed. Notably, ESMA received substantive feedback on the consultation and made several amendments to the Guidelines accordingly.

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The final guidance clarifies the scope and application date of the rule, and answers questions around good practice and accessing third-party data.

By Nicola Higgs and Jaime Martin

On 23 April 2024, the FCA published its final guidance (FG23/4) on its new anti-greenwashing rule, which comes into force on 31 May 2024. The anti-greenwashing rule will require all authorised firms to ensure that any reference they make to the sustainability characteristics of their financial products and services are…

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have made some significant changes to the European Commission’s proposal.

On 5 February 2024, the European Parliament and Council of the EU announced that they had reached a provisional political agreement on the text of the ESG Ratings Regulation (the Regulation). The agreed text was subsequently published on 14 February 2024. The Regulation was initially proposed by the Commission in June 2023, and seeks to introduce a new regulatory regime for ESG ratings providers “operating in the Union”. Refer to this Latham blog post for previous commentary on the proposal.

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Benchmark administrators should review the quality of their ESG benchmark disclosures ahead of a review by EU regulators during 2024.

By Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, Anne Mainwaring, Ella McGinn, and Charlotte Collins

On 13 December 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, announced its plans to launch a Common Supervisory Action (CSA). Along with National Competent Authorities (NCAs), ESMA plans to review the mandatory disclosures of benchmark administrators providing benchmarks that pursue ESG objectives under the EU Benchmarks Regulation (EU BMR).

The CSA is the first that ESMA will conduct since it assumed its direct supervisory role under the EU BMR. As part of the CSA, ESMA and the NCAs will share knowledge and experience to harmonise how they supervise ESG disclosure requirements for benchmark administrators.