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Article

1 Mar 2018

Author:
Susanna Rust, IPE

EU: Finance ministers support 'green' asset classification system; focus is on climate mitigation

"‘Green’ asset classification system gets go-ahead from EU finance ministers", 23 February 2018

EU finance ministers have agreed that a system that classifies what assets are “green” is the basis for the further action on the bloc’s sustainable finance strategy...

The Commission is due to set out its official action plan on sustainable finance early next month.

Introducing an asset classification system was one of the priority recommendations of the Commission’s High Level Expert Group (HLEG) [...] “to establish market clarity on what is ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’”...

It would initially focus on climate mitigation...

The Commission would present a proposal for legislation on the governance of the classification system before the summer...

The Commission is also poised to follow through with plans to address investor duties... [T]he Commission would present a proposal “to clarify the duties that asset managers and institutional investors have to take sustainability into account in the investment process”.

The objective was also to strengthen the transparency of these investors to help clients get more information and options for sustainable investments...

The European Parliament is preparing an “initiative report” to establish its position on sustainable finance in the EU while it waits for the Commission’s legislative proposals.