This week marks the anniversary of the Platform on Sustainable Finance‘s final proposal for a social taxonomy framework to the European Commission. Unfortunately, no party has been scheduled to celebrate this milestone as the social taxonomy idea has stalled. We took a closer look at the reasons behind this lack of action. On the positive side, the European Parliament negotiators, spearheaded by rapporteur Paul Tang and the Swedish EU Presidency, managed to reach a provisional agreement on creating a European Green Bonds Standard, introducing uniform requirements for issuers of bonds wishing to use the designation ‘European green bond’ (EuGB).
After years of building standards and rules, the time has come to hold organisations accountable. Last week, Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth France, and Notre Affaire à Tous, initiated the first climate dispute in the world. ShareAction’s latest benchmarking report, meanwhile, reveals winners and losers right across the market, whether large or small, active or passive or focused on equities or bonds.
“Europe’s future depends on our ability to transform and embrace the digital and green transitions. This calls for bold investment in both the public and the private sectors. However, uncertainty, driven by unpredictable policy and market conditions, is proving to be a barrier to investment decisions,” said EIB Chief Economist Debora Revoltella ahead of the release of the EIB’s Investment Report 2022-2023.
On the other side of the Atlantic, however, the woke capitalism movement continues to tarnish the ‘ESG‘ brand and managers warn against the damage caused by opposing forces.