ESG in financial product: regulation and reporting

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation ("SFDR") is an important milestone in the EU Commission's action plan on sustainable finance. This regulation aims to provide greater transparency on the degree of sustainability of financial products in order to channel investment flows towards truly sustainable investments while preventing greenwashing.

Since 10 March 2021 with SFDR level 1, financial market participants must publish ESG-related information on different supports: website, pre-contractual documents and annual report at entity and product level.

Level 2 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Monday 25 July 2022, meaning that as from 1 January 2023, financial market participants need to disclose sustainability related information in pre-contractual documents (i.e., prospectuses for investment funds), on websites and in periodic reports (i.e., the annual reports for investment funds). The extent and the type of disclosure depends mainly on whether the financial product follows the regime of article 8 or 9 of SFDR, while provisions linked to PAIs-related (Principal Adverse Impact), disclosures also apply to the so-called article 6 products.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to have sufficient knowledge to understand how SFDR interacts with the other regulations and the consequences on its implementation, as well as the potential impact of SFDR on their reporting at entity level and product level.

Introduction to ESG regulations to set the scene:

• Where does it come from?
• Overview of regulations: taxonomy, SFDR, CSRD
• SFDR level 1 and 2: timeline, disclosures, operational challenges including data aspect

An attendance certificate will be sent to participants

This training is coordinated by Frederic Vonner, and Geoffroy Marcassoli, Partners at PwC Luxembourg.

From daily operations to regulatory compliance, Frédéric has been helping local and global asset managers, fund service providers and banks to successfully run their businesses for nearly 20 years.

His areas of focus are: UCITS, AIFMD and GDPR regulations, private equity and real estate, organisation setup and review, project management.

Frédéric is also engaged in sustainability and sustainable finance matters, delivering assignments ranging from strategy and regulatory compliance to practical implementation. He is an experienced trainer and course designer /facilitator for soft skills and technical trainings.

Geoffroy is an assurance partner specialised in ESG and sustainable finance. He has developed his knowledge and expertise of sustainable finance through a wide range of engagements including but not limited to regulatory gap analysis, assistance in the definition of sustainable strategies and taxonomy assessments.

Geoffroy is leading PwC Luxembourg ESG and sustainable finance assurance practice and is also an active member of multiple industry working groups.

He is also leading PwC's initiatives on collection and assessment of ESG data and developed assurance services on SFDR, principal adverse impact indicators and taxonomy alignment.