Chinese supervisors have issued a framework that identifies activities eligible for green financing. The so-called Catalogue of Green Finance-Supported Projects combines and updates two previous “catalogues” for low-carbon transition activities and green bonds. The updated framework applies to green loans and bonds, but not Chinese listed equities “for the time being”. It will come into force in October; green loans and bonds that have been made against the legacy frameworks and approved prior to that date will be allowed to proceed. The framework was issued by China’s central bank, and securities and banking regulators. The central bank, together with EU and Singapore regulators, published the EU-China Common Ground Taxonomy in November, a framework that aims to identify areas of interoperability between the EU and Chinese taxonomies.
A group of academics have published a paper on scenarios for amending the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), looking at advancing the reporting scope while reducing further burden. The scope of the regulation is in the process of being adjusted, following the European Commission’s Omnibus package, which proposed raising the threshold from companies with 250 employees and €50 million in net turnover to companies with 1,000 employees and the same turnover. The scope of the directive is currently being negotiated in the European Parliament, and a draft report has been filed by the lead negotiator proposing to raise the scope to firms with 3,000 employees and €450 million in turnover.
The academics have made two proposals for a two-tiered reporting system in which companies with 500-1,000 employees (tier 1) would report on “core European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)”, and firms with more than 1,000 staff (tier 2) would report under the revised ESRS, with limited assurance requirements. The authors have calculated that both scenarios would bring an additional 6,800 companies back into CSRD scope.
Columbia Threadneedle has upgraded a global equity income fund to Article 9 and three other funds to Article 8, citing increasing investor demand for sustainable and ESG strategies. The manager said that the global equity fund would be renamed to the “sustainable global equity income” fund, having concluded that “its future viability will be best secured by making the changes”. The firm already runs a sustainable equivalent in the UK and said it “believes it will be beneficial to make such a fund available to a wider range of investors in Europe as well as benefitting existing investors”.
Eurosif has signed up six institutions including Deloitte’s Luxembourg arm and Mirova to its new “Eurosif Club” initiative, which allows them to participate in the organisation’s advisory groups and aims to present “a united front to promote the many business and competitiveness benefits of sustainable finance rules in the face of regulatory backsliding”. Membership of Eurosif itself is limited to national sustainable investment forums, and Eurosif said the club had been “specifically designed to work in synergy with our national members” and institutions would not get access to governance structures such as the board of directors.
Terna has become the latest issuer and third Italian utility to enter the EU Green Bond market, raising €750 million from a bond issued on Tuesday. The bond, which matures in 2031, saw a peak orderbook of €3.5 billion, with UniCredit acting as green bond standard structuring adviser.
The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) Nepal is consulting on developing sustainability reporting standards aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) two standards on general sustainability and climate. The ASB signed an MoU with the Securities Board of Nepal in 2023, with the objectives to draft and implement tailored sustainability reporting standards, organising training, conducting joint stakeholder consultations and collaborating on technical research. The ASB said that, while formal sustainability reporting standards are “relatively new”, many companies already engage in practices that align with sustainability principles, driven by existing legal and regulatory frameworks. The consultation will end on 16 August.
