ESMA: Publication of notes on the Environmental Taxonomy Regulation and SFDR

On 22 November 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (EMSA) published three documents with notes on key concepts of the EU framework on sustainable finance, focusing in particular on the Taxonomy Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/852) and the SFDR (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088). ESMA emphasises that the notes are not to be understood as guidelines on the application of EU provisions. The notes are merely intended to provide stakeholders with information to better understand and navigate the EU framework on sustainable finance.

The first document provides information on the definition of sustainable investment.

The second document provides information on the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) requirements.

The third document provides information on the use of estimates.

The ASCG will continue to deal with developments relating to the EU framework on sustainable finance. In particular, we have organised thirteen user forums on the Taxonomy Regulation and four user forums on the introduction of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) with our member companies and associations in the past. The problems and solutions discussed in the user forums are forwarded to EFRAG and the European Commission in the form of (anonymised) submissions. Some of the issues raised in the submissions have already been addressed in the FAQ documents on the Taxonomy Regulation published by the European Commission.