The document discusses the EU's sustainability journey and various related regulations and standards. It outlines the EU's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels through policies like the European Green Deal. It also discusses several EU regulations and standards aimed at facilitating sustainable finance, including the EU Taxonomy which defines sustainable economic activities, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation which mandates sustainability reporting, and the potential EU Green Bond Standard. The overall aim is to align efforts towards a more sustainable global system and accelerate progress on issues like climate change.
2. https://adviseers.com
Vision
● We facilitate progress towards a global system by ensuring efforts made by sustainability ecosystem stakeholders are aligned with global innovations and
best practices in digitization and electronic business reporting for the public good.
Mission
● We work with non-profit foundations and funders to accelerate alignment, between a wide range of worldwide stakeholders, to achieve real progress
towards a global digitized reporting and disclosure ecosystem.
● We collaborate and partner with sustainability ecosystem stakeholders to facilitate the development of a global system that meets the needs of all
constituencies and markets. This ensures sustainability ecosystem stakeholders speak with a unified and authoritative voice, including about the digital
relationships between standards of practice, performance, and benchmarking.
3. Disclaimer
We are sharing our insight into Understanding the EU Sustainability Journey as
dynamic content available to you under the banner of a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International Licence. This means you can freely use it, share it, and
improve upon it as long as you properly attribute this original source.
We hope you benefit from and enjoy learning about the global green movement as
much as we enjoy creating it for you. We’d love to hear what you think, so please so
get in touch!
And, subscribe to the mailing list to get notifications on all new content releases
throughout the year!
Liv and David
https://adviseers.com
4. Table of Contents
● The EU Green Journey
● The EU Blue Economy
● The EU Benchmarks Regulation
● The EU Taxonomy Standard
● The EU Green Bond Standard
● The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)
● Climate Action Get Involved
7. The European Commission has adopted a
set of proposals to make the EU's climate,
energy, transport and taxation policies fit
for reducing net greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 55% by 2030,
compared to 1990 levels.
The European Commission GREEn Agenda
8. The EU GREEN economy
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal/delivering-european-green-deal_en
Defined: A green economy is one that generates increasing prosperity while
maintaining the natural systems that sustain us.
Financing: One third of the 1.8 trillion euro investments from the
NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, and the EU’s seven-year budget will help
finance the European Green Deal.
AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR PEOPLE ..
Action Plan: Financing Sustainable Growth
11. “Fit for 55 Package” - The European Climate
Law
bindingtargetofachievingclimateneutralityby2050
● On July 21, 2021, the Regulation on a European Climate Law, which codifies the
European Union’s (EU’s) goal to become climate neutral by 2050 as a legally binding
obligation, entered into force.
● The Law sets a total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target of 55% by 2030
compared to 1990 levels.
● On July 14, 2021, the European Commission presented a series of legislative proposals,
the “Fit for 55 package,” which describes the measures the Commission will take to
reach the 2030 target.
Source: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/green-deal/eu-plan-for-a-green-transition/
15. Two investment benchmarks
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_21_2355
1. The EU Climate Transition Benchmark (EU CTB)
2. The EU Paris-aligned Benchmark (EU PAB)
MAIN Objectives:
A. Allow a significant level of comparability of climate benchmarks methodologies
while leaving benchmarks’ administrators with an important level of flexibility in
designing their methodologies.
B. Provide investors with an appropriate tool that is aligned with their investment
strategy.
C. Increase transparency on investors’ impact, specifically with regard to climate
change and the energy transition.
D. Disincentivize greenwashing.
17. The EU TaxonomyRegulation
(TR)
● The Taxonomy Regulation (TR)
● The world’s first official system to define and
classify a list of 67 environmentally
sustainable economic activities, which are
responsible for 93.2% of carbon emission.
● The aim is to orientate and improve the flow of
money towards more sustainable activities.
● A guidelines as to what can be classified as
‘green’
● Requires certain entities to disclose
information concerning the degree of
alignment of their activities with the Taxonomy
Six environmentalobjectives
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/business_economy_euro/banking_and_finance/documents/200309-sustainable-finance-teg-final-report-taxonomy_en.pdf
19. The International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF)
& The Common Ground GREEN Taxonomy
Source:https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-finance/sustainable-finance/international-platform-sustainable-finance_en
The ultimate objective of the IPSF is to scale up
the mobilisation of private capital towards
environmentally sustainable investments.
21. The European green deal investment plan of 14 January 2020 announced that the
Commission would establish a voluntary EU green bond standard (EUGBS).
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-finance/sustainable-finance/european-green-bond-standard_en
Proposal for a European green bond standard
22. The standard would solve
several barriers in the
current market, including
reducing uncertainty on
what is green by linking it
with taxonomy,
standardising verification
and reporting processes,
and having an official
standard to which
incentives could be
attached
Voluntary green bond standard
24. Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)
● The SFDR will create a structural change in financial markets by making sustainability reporting mandatory and
will push investment firms marketing ESG funds to change the way they produce, sell and market products.
● It will force portfolio managers to assess sustainability-related risks in their investments.
● Asset managers, pension funds and insurers must disclose how they consider ESG risks in their investment
decisions.
Timeline
1 2 3 4 5 6
03.10.2021 06.30.2021 2022 2023 June302023 June302024
Enforcement
Data
Latest data by
which FMPs and
FAs must start
considering
principle adverse
impact
First
Reference Data
Second
Reference Data
Due date for the
report about the
first reference
period
Due date for the
report about the
first reference
period +
comparison
27. GET INVOLVED
Climate Pact Ambassador
Role:
● Inform, inspire and support
climate action in their
communities and networks.
● Reach out to people and/or
organisations who are not yet
involved in climate action.
● Become a bridge between
civil society, interested
stakeholders and the
European Commission
Make a Pledge Learn & Educate
Role:
● All Europeans will be
able to take a ‘step’ to
reduce their own carbon
footprint via the Count
Us In platform
● The 16 steps have been
selected with experts
from the UN
Environment Programme
as the most effective
ways for individuals to
reduce carbon pollution.
Role:
● Register for a satellite
event or host an event
that would allow for
discussions and focus
on specific topics or
highlight the role of
particular groups or
sectors in the Climate
Pact.
Source: https://europa.eu/climate-pact/ambassadors/become-ambassador_en#:~:text=inform%2C%20inspire%20and%20support%20climate%20action%20in%20their%20communities%20and%20networks.%20Anyone%20can%20apply!
28. The next topic RELEASE will be:
UNDERSTANDING The European
Sustainability Reporting Standard
29. About the authors
29
-
Liv A. Watson
Managing Director, Adviseers
SAS on secondment to Impact
Management Project
David Wray
President of the
DFCG International Group
https://www.linkedin.com/in/livwatson/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-w-29627882/