In late 2016, the European Commission tasked a High Level Expert Group (HLEG) to work on a more sustainable financial system and develop a comprehensive blueprint for reforms along the entire investment chain, on which to build a sustainable finance strategy for the EU. This 20 member Group, including Claudia Kruse, Managing Director Responsible Investment & Governance at APG, published its final report today.
One of the key recommendations is to create an EU Sustainable Taxonomy, a classification system to determine which assets contribute to the Paris Climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This is in line what APG and its clients would like to achieve and the asset owner led Taxonomy on Sustainable Development Investments (SDIs), will be one of the existing frameworks to build on.
Other recommendations of the EU Expert Group are:
- Clarify investor duties to better embrace long-term horizon and sustainability preferences
- Upgrade disclosure rules to make sustainability risks fully transparent, starting with climate change
- Key elements of a retail strategy on sustainable finance: investment advice, ecolabel and SRI minimum standards
- Develop and implement official European sustainability standards and labels, starting with green bonds
- Establish ‘Sustainable Infrastructure Europe
- Governance and Leadership
- Include sustainability in the supervisory mandate of the ESAs and extend the horizon of risk monitoring
Claudia Kruse Managing Director Responsible Investment & Governance at APG:
“We welcome the Commission’s ambition to building a more sustainable financial system and are delighted that we were able to contribute as part of the EU High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. In our view these recommendations can help drive the necessary change to shift more capital towards sustainable solutions and integrate sustainability in investment decisions. APG and its clients are recognized for their leadership on responsible investing and we believe that a sustainable financial system is in the best interest of beneficiaries."