On 12 April, the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) released the Joint Consultation Paper on amendments to the Delegated Regulation of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) (for more information on the Delegated Regulation read AMEIS ‘ ESG & Sustainability Focus Report ).

Key highlights of the amendments include:

• Extension of the list of social indicators for principal adverse impacts to include new indicators, namely: (i) amount of accumulated earnings in non cooperative tax jurisdiction; (ii) exposure to companies involved in the cultivation and production of tobacco; (iii) share of employees earning less than the adequate wage…).

• Technical revision of the principal adverse impact (PAI) framework through the introduction of a new formula for the PAI indicators that did not already have them.

• Enhance DNSH disclosure design options as under the current requirements concerning disclosures for do not significantly harm (DNSH), investors do not have lots of opportunities to compare financial products, and investee companies have little predictability about how PAI criteria will be applied by financial market participants (FMPs).

• Amendments regarding greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions reduction targets or decarbonisation through additional disclosures requirements to foster transparency and comparability between financial products (i.e. simplified disclosures through pre-contractual documents and periodic reports, as well as a third set of disclosures, more detailed and available on the website will complement).

• Simplification of the template (i.e. language used in the templates to enhance comprehensibility). A dedicated “dashboard” of key information was developed to complement the more detailed information of the precontractual and periodic disclosures.

Consultation will close on 4 July 2023.