ISS ESG Provides US Cyber Risks Visibility for Sustainability Investors

ESG investors are now able to monitor companies’ cyber risks through a new service provided by ISS ESG. The ISS ESG US Cyber Risk Index offers clients visibility into which corporates face the highest risk of digital intrusion based on their cyber security provisions.

ISS ESG, the sustainable investment unit of Institutional Shareholder Services, said the index is based on is Cyber Risk Scores.

ESAs and ECB Call for Better Disclosures from Structured Products

European regulators and authorities have published joint statement calling for better climate-related disclosures on structured financial products. In the report, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) and the European Central Bank (ECB) said the lack of climate data on the securities’ underlying assets was of concern and needed addressing.

Breakthrough in European Green Bond Labelling

The European Union has agreed to create standards for its proposed green bond labelling framework, bringing one of the thorniest debates among the region’s regulators closer to a resolution. The proposed standards set the guidelines that bond issuers should follow before they can confidently describe their debt as “green”.

EFAMA Says Green Labelling Plan is Flawed

Industry body, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), has taken aim at one of the European Union’s regulators over proposed labelling laws for green funds. EFAMA said the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) recommendation for a numerical threshold system for grading funds’ sustainability characteristics would not eliminate greenwashing. Its offered alternative calls for an evidence-based assessment of funds’ objectives and strategies.

ISSB Nails Down Technicalities of Standards for June Release

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has completed the technical drafting of global reporting standards it plans to make effective for signatories in January. The technical details of the framework have been partly based on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). They are due to be announced in June and the first disclosures by companies reporting under them will be due in 2025.

SEC’s Gensler Says Regulator is Considering Climate Proposals

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US is mulling the alteration of some of its climate-reporting proposals, which were announced last year. Chair of the regulator Gary Gensler said about 15,000 comments had been sent from market participants after the proposals were put out for consultation. Gensler said the adjustments were being considered to bring “consistency and comparability to disclosures”.

French Regulator Wants Tougher Guarantees in SFDR

The French financial regulator, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has urged a rethink of part of the European Union’s wide-ranging ESG reporting rules. The AMF wants to see minimal environmental impact standards for ESG-linked funds, arguing that without them, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) would inadvertently encourage greenwashing.

PRI Aligns Reporting Framework with that of TCFD

A pioneering sustainable investment disclosures organisation has made widescale changes to its reporting framework, amid calls that it fall in line with other reporting bodies. The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) has loosened some of the reporting requirements that make its disclosures framework the largest in the industry. PRI signatories will now be asked to follow a framework more closely aligned with that of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

European Regulators Give Backing to Planned CSRD Reporting Rules

Europe’s three main financial regulators have given conditional backing to the European Union’s proposed Corporates Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD), which will govern how companies disclose their ESG performance. The European Banking Authority (EBA), The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said the rules – termed European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) –needed to align with other global reporting standards.

ISSB to Announce Reporting Framework in June

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has said it will announce its ESG reporting framework in June. Erkki Liikanen, chair of the IFRS Foundation – under which the board operates – told the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that he expected the sustainability and climate-related reporting framework to be published “at tremendous speed” because “there is such urgency”. A meeting of the board earlier said it would allow companies exemptions from reporting some ESG data if the cost of gathering and disclosing it would damage them commercially.