Rodrigo Buenaventura, president of the CNMV, spoke at the IV ESG Forum, organized by elEconomista.es. Sustainable labels and instruments are some of the challenges that the ESG world still faces for Buenaventura.
“We can no longer classify ESG funds by article 8 and article 9“. This was one of the main arguments of the president of the CNMV in his speech and he declared that it was necessary develop sustainability labels to correctly name these vehicles.
But how did we get to this situation? The problem, for Buenaventura, is that in the absence of a sustainability classification, transparency standards have been taken as a reference to name ESG funds, but the president recommends stopping using this nomenclature to define these vehicles durable.
The president of the CNMV explained the importance of the names of this type of fund in the marketing and content of the portfolios themselves. For this reason, it has been reported that ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has proposed guidelines for funds that wish to be classified as ESG, such as investing significantly in ESG and having investments linked to these criteria, among others.
For Buenaventura, sustainability has many directions and, although finance is only a small part, it is of great importance, as the associated change in sustainability in financial markets has been very intense, he explained. And, in this sense, For the president of the CNMV, Europe played a leadership role: “We have a whole regulatory building, some demanding standards on the publication of sustainability, a series of rules for organizing information on sustainability, we have regulations on green bonds… This effort by the European regulator was carried out in a very short time and things which are done quickly “They are not perfect and require adjustments and improvements that allow the regulatory building to come into its own.
Among other obstacles, Buenaventura highlighted the CSDR (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) which may not be properly finalized by the end of the year and, therefore, affect the reports that companies will present in early 2025. It would be a shame if the directive is not transposed into the Spanish jurisdiction and companies that were already preparing for this new law find themselves faced with regulatory dilemmas. The CNMV will provide guidelines on how to develop this law based on Spanish regulations.“, underlined Rodrigo Buenaventura.
The United States, the elephant in the room
Even if Europe has played a more than relevant and leading role in the application of ESG criteria, it remains necessary for the report to be prepared on the basis of internationally harmonized criteria. In this sense, the CSDDD was created (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directivenew directive on due diligence, in Spanish). “Even if the ethics part is a little further behind, at IOSCO we are on the verge of completing the regulatory framework,” explained Buenaventura.
However, despite the internationalization of the regulatory framework, for the president of the CNMV, there is clearly an elephant in the room: the United States. “There are 47 countries that will opt for this new directive, but the problem lies in the United States. YesIts standards are less ambitious than European ones, even in climate matters. With the change of administration [Trump ha ganado las elecciones presidenciales] “Can make a 180º change and even find yourself without certain sustainability standards”, he maintained, however, although he does not exclude that this situation could occur, prefers to be optimistic and declared that he There are many companies operating in this country. areas where they use these criteria and these US groups may end up producing reports based on these criteria, even if their country does not require them. The new CSDDD regulation will affect the entire value chain.
New Secretary General of IOSCO
Rodrigo Buenaventura’s intervention was one of the last as president of the CNMV. On December 16, his term will end and he will become secretary general of IOSCO, the international supervisor. This appointment not only represents a leap in Buenaventura’s professional career, but also demonstrates the relevance and influence of the organization and the Spanish financial markets on the international stage. He will be the first Spaniard to hold this position.
