EU Prepares to Turn the Screw on Asset Managers Over Greenwashing
For money managers and advisers keen to market their sustainable investing credentials to European clients, going green is about to get a lot tougher. 09 March 2021
Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett of Reuters write that under a suite of new EU finance rules due to be rolled out in stages, beginning on March 10, firms including fund houses, insurers and pension funds that provide financial products or services in the European Union will have to begin disclosing how sustainable they really are.
The new EU legislation, called the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), aims to help drive 1 trillion euros ($1.19 trillion) into green investments over the next decade, iron out the patchy climate-related information currently provided by financial market participants, and give firms with genuinely sustainable products an edge.
Anna Hirai, Co-Head of ESG Research at SquareWell, commented to Reuters that “Investors are put in a difficult position as (some company) data needed to report on …(the) mandatory indicators are not readily available from their investee companies.”
The full article can be accessed here.
