ESAs analyse the extent of voluntary disclosure of principal adverse impacts under the SFDR

Similar to the approach adopted for 2022 Report, the ESAs launched a survey of National Competent Authorities to assess the current state of entity-level and product-level voluntary principal adverse impact (PAI) disclosures under the SFDR, and have developed a preliminary, indicative and non-exhaustive overview of good practices and areas that need improvement.

Highlights:

• The results show an overall improvement compared to the previous year, although there is still significant variation in the extent of compliance with the requirements and in the quality of the disclosures both across financial market participants and jurisdictions.
• Disclosures appear easier to find on websites compared to the previous year.
• When financial market participants do not consider principal adverse impacts, they should better explain the reasons for not doing so.
• Even though they are encouraged to do so under the SFDR, financial market participants are generally not disclosing to what extent their investments align with the Paris Agreement.
• Voluntary disclosures of PAI consideration by financial products will be further analysed in future reports.

The 2023 Report also includes a set of recommendations for the European Commission to consider ahead of the next comprehensive assessment of the SFDR.

Background

Principal Adverse Impacts (PAI) are the most significant negative impacts of investments on the environment and people. When a financial market participant considers principal adverse impacts, it means that it should seek to reduce the negative impact of the companies they invest in.