A group of institutional investors including Ethos calls on the European Commission to safeguard the objectives and coherence of EU sustainability regulation. The investors support the objective of simplifying corporate sustainability reporting. However, they are concerned that the revision of the regulation as part of the ‘Omnibus Directive’ will lead to legal uncertainty and jeopardise the ambitions that have already been adopted. The signatories emphasise the importance of the current regulations. It enables them to take into account all financial and non-financial opportunities and risks when making their investment decisions.
In response to recent criticism regarding excessive bureaucracy and loss of competitiveness for European companies, the European Commission wants to simplify and consolidate the requirements for companies in the area of sustainability. To this end, it intends to publish an ‘omnibus directive’ on 26 February, which is intended to harmonise the existing regulations (CSRD, CSDDD, EU taxonomy).
However, the reopening of these legal acts in their entirety could lead to considerable legal uncertainty. The signatories recognise the potential for simplification in the application of EU sustainability regulation. However, they are concerned that the revision could weaken the objectives that have already been adopted.
Against this backdrop, a group of investors coordinated by UNPRI, Eurosif and IIGCC has issued a joint statement calling for the European Union to maintain the integrity and ambition of its sustainability and corporate responsibility regulation. The institutional investors collectively manage approx. EUR 6'600 billion. They includes Ethos and the members of the Ethos Engagement Pool International.
“The EU Taxonomy, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are fundamental cornerstones of the EU architecture for sustainable development,” the investors said in a statement published today, and “together they help investors to manage risks, identify opportunities and channel capital towards a more competitive, fairer and prosperous net zero economy.”
According to the signatories, the objective of simplifying and improving the coherence of the regulations can be achieved through targeted changes to the technical standards and clear implementation guidelines. On the one hand, the EU can thus eliminate the excessive complexity of the various directives. On the other hand, it will ensure legal certainty and meet the needs of investors for comparable, reliable and easily accessible sustainability data from companies.
