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10 - Sustainability-Related Materiality in the SFDR

from Part III - Integrating Sustainability in Financial Markets Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2025

By
Nathan de Arriba-Sellier  and
Arnaud Van Caenegem
Edited by
Kern Alexander ,
Matteo Gargantini  and
Michele Siri
Kern Alexander
Affiliation:
University of Zurich
Matteo Gargantini
Affiliation:
University of Genoa
Michele Siri
Affiliation:
University of Genoa
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Summary

This chapter analyses the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) by proposing that we should think about the SFDR as a layered system of sustainability-related disclosures, which combine the concepts of “single materiality” and “double materiality”. The authors offer a new perspective on popular proposals to turn the SFDR into a labelling scheme but argue that supervisors should avoid such avenues. The chapter emphasises that it is not the definition of “sustainable investment” which is relevant, but the additional disclosure requirements that apply as soon as a financial market participant deems its financial product to be in line with the definition. The SFDR encourages robust internal assessments over blind reliance on opaque ESG rating agencies and provides financial market participants with the freedom to justify what a contribution to an environmental or social objective means. This freedom sets it apart from a labeling mechanism with a clearly defined threshold of what a contribution should entail. The chapter also analyzes proposed guidelines by ESMA for regulating the names of investment funds that involve sustainable investment, and concludes that those guidelines do not create a clear labelling regime.

Keywords

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulationsustainability-related materialitycomply-or-explain mechanismslabelling mechanismsdisclosure obligationssingle vs double materialityPrincipal Adverse Impact Statementsustainable investmentsustainability preferencesname’s rule
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of EU Sustainable Finance
Regulation, Supervision and Governance
 , pp. 251 - 279
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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