Since the European Commission’s adoption of its Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth in 2018, EU policymakers have shown greater understanding of the urgent need for sustainability legislation in the financial sector.

The poll includes 7 pages of questions focusing on sustainable finance policy reform in the EU, with an opportunity to also provide thoughts on real economy policy at the end. It should take no more than 10min to complete. Please note that: 

• No questions are mandatory. 
• There is no word limit for open text questions. 
• You can save your progress at any moment and resume the form later. 
• We would like to receive one submission only per PRI signatory.

Please share your response by 22nd September 2023.

We thank you very much in advance for your contribution.

The PRI EU Policy Team

EU Taxonomy: A classification system aimed at developing a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. Sustainable investments with an environmental objective may or may not be aligned with the taxonomy. For the time being, the taxonomy does not cover socially sustainable economic activities.

Global interoperability: This refers to an ambition to maximise coherence and alignment between similar policies across different jurisdictions across the globe to minimise administrative burden across borders while also enabling each jurisdiction to implement policies which match their sustainability goals.

Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive (IORP II): The IORP II aims to improve the way occupational pension funds are governed, to enhance information transparency to pension savers and to clarify the procedures for carrying out cross-border transfers and activities. IORP II introduces new requirements on governance, occupational pensions' own risk assessment, and to use a depositary as well as enhanced powers for supervisors.

InvestEU: The InvestEU Programme supports sustainable investment, innovation and job creation in Europe. It aims to trigger more than €372 billion in additional investment over the period 2021-27.

MFF: The Multiannual Financial Framework is the EU’s long-term budget.

Markets in financial instruments directive (MiFID II): The MiFID II creates a new legal framework that better regulates investment and trading activities on financial markets and enhances investor protection. 

Prudent Person Principle: The Prudent Person Principle is the investment rule covered in IORP II and Solvency II.

Sectoral roadmaps: Sectoral roadmaps at the EU and national level lay out pathways for different economic sectors to reach net zero emissions, including indicative timelines, policy changes, necessary industrial decarbonization paths, innovation and development needs, and financing requirements.

Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II): This establishes rules promoting the exercise of shareholder rights at general meetings of companies with registered offices in the EU and the shares of which are admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU. The 2017 revision aims to encourage long-term shareholder engagement to ensure that decisions are made for the long-term stability of a company and take into account environmental and social issues.

Stewardship: The use of influence by institutional investors to maximise overall long-term value including the value of common economic, social and environmental assets, on which returns, and clients’ and beneficiaries’ interests depend.

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR): SFDR lays down sustainability disclosure obligations for manufacturers of financial products and financial advisers toward end-investors, covering the integration of sustainability risks into investment decisions, but also the adverse impacts of those decisions on the environment and society.

Sustainability impacts: These are the positive and negative effects of investment activities on people and/or the planet. They are understood in the context of global sustainability goals and thresholds.

Systemic risks: These are system-wide risks created by the declining sustainability of various aspects of the natural or social environment. This type of risks cannot be mitigated simply by diversifying the investments in a portfolio and threaten the functioning of the economic, financial and wider systems on which investment performance relies. If risks of this sort materialised, they would therefore damage the performance of a portfolio as a whole and all portfolios exposed to those systems.

Transition planning: In light of the economy-wide changes required to address climate change, organisations are now being explicitly asked to disclose climate transition plans. These plans should be clearly disclosed as part of climate strategy, guided by the metrics and targets the organisation has chosen, and overseen and approved by the board.

Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS): The Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities is the EU Commission's regulatory framework for managing and selling mutual funds.