Surrounding ecopostureo in investment funds. Starting today Thursday, funds Green which will be launched on the market will have to apply the new requirements of Esma, the European Securities and Markets Authority, for these products. The watchdog will bypass funds that want to include words like Sustainable, Green… or acronyms like ESG (which refers to environmental, social and good governance criteria). He will tell them what (and how much) they should invest in, and he forbidden certain companies, such as oil companies. Since November 21, the rule applies to funds launched on the market in EU countries; existing funds will have to adapt until May 2025. The objective is to prevent the portfolios of these products from being truly green, and that its name ends up being a simple statement marquetinian.
What do these new demands consist of? Funds whose names include terms such as Sustainability, Impact, ESG, either Environmental –among other things – they will have to exclude companies that get 10% or more of their revenue prospecting, refining or distributing oil; They will not be able to invest in businesses who extract coal. In addition, they will have to exclude companies whose 50% of their billing depends on gas, and those utilities which produce electricity above a certain level of emissions.
These guidelines concern about 10% of European funds, according to calculations by Sustainable Fitch (the sustainability division of the Fitch rating agency), which estimates that some 6,500 European funds include words like those mentioned in their names. In Spain, there are nearly fifty, plus all their classes. The CNMV (National Securities Market Commission) has already confirmed that it will apply these indications, which will increase “harmonization at European level and investor protection”, the regulator indicated in a press release.
According to Morningstar data, More than 40 funds on sale in Europe have already chosen this year to remove these keywords from their namesto comply with Esma. Barclays features in more than 15 billion euros, this is the amount of money invested by European name funds sustainable In energy companies, mainly oil companieswhich could violate these thresholds. The bank adds around 2.2 billion more euros, which is invested in utilitiesand almost 4,000 in consumer staples companies that may have to abandon funds, as already published by elEconomista.es. But the fact that so far we have seen oil companies investing in green funds should not be taken into account. greenwashingAs Claudia Antuña explains, AFI Partner responsible for Sustainable Development. “The abbreviation ESG refers not only to environmental issues, but also to social and governance issues. Furthermore, these questions do not refer to the economic activity of companies. It could therefore be that, as part of an ESG approach, an investment fund This option invests in an oil company, provided that it has a high ESG profile. In these cases, a case of greenwashingbecause the investment seeks to reward best practices in sustainability,” he explains.
“We consider that the greenwashing implies a desire to deceive and I have serious doubts about the fact that the leaders have it”, defended last week Sonsoles Santamaría, general director of the Company of Braidedduring his speech at IVth ESG Forum elEconomista.es. In recent years, the asset management sector has had to face a real regulatory earthquake and adapt to regulations that have been widely criticized for their requirements and timing. For example, managers were asked to label their sustainable funds as such, but to do so they needed data – the sustainability data of the companies they invest in – which those companies were not required to report .
