The European Commission has asked its sustainable finance advisers to stay in place for another three months, to help it work out how to make the European Union sustainability agenda more user-friendly.
The Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF) today had its mandate officially extended until the end of March 2025, according to updated terms of reference published on the website of the new Commission, whose term begins this week.
The PSF succeeded the Commission’s technical expert group (TEG) on sustainable finance in 2020, taking over as the advisory body supporting the development and implementation of the EU’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance.
It is chaired by Helena Vines Fiestas, former head of stewardship at BNP Paribas Asset Management and current commissioner at the Spanish financial markets authority, who will remain at the helm.
Other members include representatives from AXA, Allianz and SEB bank, as well as a number of academics and specialists from NGOs and service providers.
Insiders say there have been discussions about winding the PSF down, with some policymakers within the Commission expressing frustration at the unwieldy and public-facing nature of the 35-strong group of experts – especially as debate around the EU’s sustainability agenda becomes more fractious.
The Commission last month bowed to pressure from politicians and industry bodies to revisit three of its flagship sustainability laws: the Taxonomy, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
It is currently developing a legislative proposal that will suggest amendments that should be made to all three to make them easier to comply with.
Due to be tabled in the first three months of 2025, there are growing fears that the proposal will open the door for right-wing politicians and lobby groups to severely weaken the laws.
The PSF has been asked under its extended mandate to “advise on the usability and simplification of the EU Taxonomy and wider sustainable finance framework”.
It has also been tasked with continuing to flesh out the technical screening criteria and explore calls from some market participants for existing technical screening criteria to be revised.
Earlier this year, the Platform delivered a report on monitoring capital flows to sustainable investments and a “compendium” of how different market participants have worked with the EU’s sustainable finance framework. The Commission has asked it to continue this work, too.
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