The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, is today launching a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) with National Competent Authorities (NCAs) on sustainability-related disclosures and the integration of sustainability risks.
The goal is to assess the compliance of supervised asset managers with the relevant provisions in the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the Taxonomy Regulation and relevant implementing measures, including the relevant provision in the UCITS and AIFMD implementing acts on the integration of sustainability risks.
Using a common methodology developed by ESMA, NCAs will share knowledge and experiences on how to foster convergence in how they supervise sustainability related disclosure. Among the main objectives:
to assess whether market participants adhere to applicable rules and standards in practice;
to gather further information on greenwashing risks in the investment management sector; and
to identify further relevant supervisory and regulatory intervention to address the issue.
Ensuring greater convergence in the supervision of risks stemming from incorrect and misleading disclosures is central to the effort to foster transparency and is identified as one of the Union Strategic Supervisory Priorities for NCAs. The CSA will promote this goal by improving the comprehensibility of ESG disclosures by asset managers across key segments of the sustainable finance value chain. In addition, the preliminary findings on the identification of greenwashing risks at entity and product level will provide input to ESMA’s Final Report on greenwashing.
