SFDR 2.0 and the new EU budget: what do they mean for investors? A conversation with Aleksandra Palinska, Executive Director of Eurosif | POLSIF Talks #47

September 2026. The SFDR review is entering its final stage of negotiations, while the debate on the European Union’s next long-term budget is under way. We talk to Aleksandra Palinska, Executive Director of Eurosif, the European organisation promoting sustainable investment of which POLSIF is a member. We ask what changes lie ahead for the sustainable investment market and how public funding can mobilise private capital for the transition of the economy.

SFDR, the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, was originally meant to increase market transparency. In practice, however, it came to serve as an informal classification system for investment products. The SFDR 2.0 reform is set to replace this model with a formal system of product categories: sustainable, transition and products that meet basic ESG criteria, with an additional label for impact-oriented investments. The changes will go beyond disclosure requirements. They will also affect how investment products that take sustainability (ESG) factors into account are designed and offered. We discuss the current state of the negotiations, the issues that remain unresolved and the consequences of the reform for investors.

Our second topic is the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU’s future long-term budget. We look at how public funding could be used more effectively, for example through investment guarantees and blended finance, to mobilise private capital and scale up investment in the transition of the European economy.

In this episode you will learn:

• where the SFDR review stands and which issues remain unresolved;
• how SFDR 2.0 will change the categorisation of investment products, the rules for offering them and disclosure obligations;
• how the next EU budget can help mobilise private investment for the sustainable transition;
• what to watch on the EU sustainable finance agenda in the coming months.