DESPITE THE DELAY TO LEVEL II1 ANNOUNCED BY THE
EUROPEAN COMMISSION (“EC”) AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER 2021, THE LAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN BUSY
FOR SUSTAINABLE FINANCE!
The market was given plenty of valuable information on the
direction of travel of the EU sustainable finance agenda –
from the EC's announcement of the Renewed Sustainable Finance
Strategy on 6 July 2021, to its answers later that same month to
the Q&A raised earlier this year by the ESAs (ESMA, EIOPA, and
EBA).
One reason for the delayed entry into force of Level II was the
need to amend the SFDR Regulatory Technical Standards
(“RTS”) of February 2021 to include
transparency requirements applicable to some financial products
pursuant to the Taxonomy Regulation
(“TR”). The ultimate goal: to create a
single rulebook for sustainability disclosures under both the SFDR
and the TR.