Background
Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on sustainability-related disclosures (SFDR) is a pillar of the EU sustainable finance agenda. SFDR aims to increase the transparency of financial market participants towards end-investors and contribute to the objective of fighting greenwashing. It lays down sustainability disclosure obligations regarding the environmental and social impact of an entity’s investment decisions, and requirements on how to present the characteristics of sustainable investment products.
The regulation comes into effect in two phases. Its high-level requirements apply since March 2021 and they will be complemented by more prescriptive technical standards, which were due to apply from 1 January 2022. Implementing SFDR represents a momentous change for the industry. This new, far-reaching regulation will change the way firms integrate ESG considerations in, and present information about, investment decisions and product features.
For many it also carries significant costs, interpretation questions and implementation challenges. Over time, disclosures will evolve alongside the methodologies to assess sustainability factors and the availability of ESG data from investee companies. Keeping up with the fast pace of market and regulatory developments around transparency requirements will require ongoing training for leaders and practitioners in the financial industry.
About the course
The course aims to provide participants with all the necessary tools to understand the rationale, content and application of the requirements introduced by SFDR and its technical standards. It will seek to answer the key interpretation questions and address the main implementation challenges.
The objective of the course is to provide answers to the key questions on the implementation of SFDR. Guidance is focused on applying the Regulation in the interim period between 10 March 2021 and 1 January 2022 (or deferred date of 1 July 2022) and ensuring preparedness ahead of the next application phases.
The course is introduced by an overview and follows the structure of the regulation. The first module covers the entity-level transparency requirements and is followed by two modules focusing on product-level disclosure made in pre-contractual documents, websites and periodic reports.
