POLSIF Legal Centre - February 2024

🔺 Future of CSDDD in doubt: The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU has again postponed the vote on the approval of the CSDDD Directives, due to the opposition of some Member States (including Germany and Italy) motivated by excessive bureaucratic burdens imposed by CSDDD on companies. In view of the June elections to the European Parliament, it is necessary to reach an agreement by mid-March in order to ensure the adoption of the CSDDD in this term.

🔺 Compromise on ESG rating agencies: On 5 February, the Council and the European Parliament reached a preliminary compromise on the draft regulation on the activities of ESG credit rating agencies. The regulation will enter into force 18 months after the formal adoption of the final version of the document by the Council and the European Parliament.

🔺 The European Commission's 2040 climate goals and sustainable investments: The European Commission has announced a new greenhouse gas reduction target for the European Union. It assumes a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. This is an intermediate step towards achieving the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Länk: https://cutt.ly/dwM1yriX

🔺 ECB publishes climate and nature plan for 2024-2025: The European Central Bank (ECB) has reaffirmed its commitment to assessing the impact of climate change on the financial system by publishing a new “Climate and Nature Plan 2024-2025” setting out actions in these areas for the next two years. Link: https://cutt.ly/7wM1rMqD

🔺 Reporting standards for SMEs: On 22 January EFRAG launched a public consultation on draft reporting standards for SMEs mandatory for listed SMEs and voluntary for non-listed SMEs. Link: https://cutt.ly/qwMM9YLh

🔺 Deferral of adoption of sectoral ESRS reporting standards: On 7 February 2024, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached a preliminary agreement to postpone the adoption of sectoral ESRS reporting standards until June 2026 (by 2 years). The decision requires official approval. Link: https://cutt.ly/wwMM5DYI

🔺 EFRAG publishes technical explanations on the use of ESRS: The EFRAG Q&A platform has provided answers to the first set of twelve questions on sustainability reporting. Länk: https://cutt.ly/4wM1iQff

🔺 EFRAG launches consultation on digital labelling for ESRS data points: Link: https://cutt.ly/JwM1uK1S

🔺 ESMA TRV Report: On 31 January 2024 ESMA published the ESMA Report on Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities for the second half of 2023 Link: https://cutt.ly/7wM1wadC

🔺 ESMA publishes a working paper on ESG funds in a pandemic: The document was published on 15 February 2024 Link: https://cutt.ly/bwM1e0uw

Author: Roksana Kałuzna-Bałazy

‍