Sustainable finance

Nowadays, it's almost impossible to open a newspaper without encountering an article on 'sustainability'. Whether it's in the context of the financial services industry, the broader economy, or society as a whole, sustainability has become a critical issue. In recent years, it has gained significant traction and is now recognised as a necessity rather than just a trend.

Over the past decade, the focus on environmental issues has grown exponentially, resulting in various global commitments and initiatives aimed at transforming current institutional, economic, and financial models.

This training focuses on the implications of sustainable finance, particularly SFDR, on risk management for financial institutions, including banks and Asset Managers (AM). It aims to address how ESG factors, climate change, and broader sustainability considerations reshape the risk landscape, affecting both operational and strategic decision-making processes.

By the end of this training, participants will:

• develop regulatory knowledge: gain a comprehensive understanding of the SFDR, including its interaction with the EU Taxonomy and CSRD. Participants will be able to navigate through SFDR Level 1 and Level 2 requirements and understand the obligations linked to different products
• understand the recent updates: understand the most recent regulatory updates and their impacts on the sustainable finance landscape, including guidelines from the ESAs, CSSF actions, and the evolving disclosure requirements.
• master practical implementation: being able to apply ESG principles practically in their organisation's reporting, investment decision-making, and compliance frameworks, ensuring both alignment with regulatory obligations and effective communication to stakeholders.
• customised learning: access optional modules focusing on sustainable finance practices tailored to different types of financial institutions: funds, ManCos, banks, and insurance.

Introduction to sustainable finance and ESG regulations

• Overview of sustainable finance: SFDR, EU Taxonomy, and CSRD.
• Why SFDR was introduced and its role in the EU action plan for sustainable finance.

SFDR framework

• Level 1 & 2 requirements: timeline, key milestones, and disclosure requirements at entity and product levels, including data challenges.
• Product classification: articles 6, 8, 8+, and 9 - Types of disclosures required for each.
• Principal Adverse Impacts (PAI): entity vs. product-level disclosures, DNSH principle, and sustainability factors.

EU Taxonomy

• How EU Taxonomy aligns with SFDR for clear definitions and reporting obligations.

Latest Regulatory Updates

• Recent developments: key updates impacting SFDR, including ESA publications, ESMA guidelines, and CSSF actions.
• What’s coming: updates on SFDR Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), future timelines, and regulatory changes.

Optional sector-specific modules

• Funds: UCITS and AIFMD considerations.
• Management Companies (ManCos): ESG integration in decision-making and reporting.
• Banks (MiFID): ESG in client advisory processes and MiFID II obligations.
• Insurance (IDD): meeting policyholder sustainability preferences.

Practical implementation

• Case studies: real-world examples of ESG integration challenges and solutions.
• Stakeholder communication: strategies for communicating ESG initiatives effectively.
• Future trends: preparing for regulatory changes and adapting strategies.

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

Michael has acquired a strong financial and regulatory audit as well as advisory background and significant experience leading projects in the asset management sphere.

In the recent past, Michael has been particularly involved in various regulatory projects related to the implementation of the EU regulatory framework for sustainable finance (i.e. SFDR, taxonomy regulation, CSRD) at entity and product level. Michael is involved in various other regulatory projects for clients, from DORA, AML/CFT regulation over CSSF circular 18/698 to MICA

From daily operations to regulatory compliance, Frédéric Vonner, Partner, has been helping local and global asset managers, fund service providers and banks for, nearly 20 years, to successfully run their businesses. Areas of focus: UCITS, AIFMD and GDPR regulations, PE and RE, organisation setup and review, project management.

Frédéric also engaged on the 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.

Kenny is an Assurance partner specialised in ESG and sustainable finance. He is working within the ESG Assurance practice of the firm on top of leading the internal TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) working group.

On this topic, he has led several discussions with various stakeholders (regulator, government, all industry associations and players from different industries) in a bid to create awareness in the Luxembourgish market place as one of the pioneers in the early days of the task force.

Kenny is also a member of the LuxFLAG ESG Label Eligibility Committee, responsible for the attribution of labels to sustainable funds.

Geoffroy is an assurance partner specialised in ESG and sustainable finance. He is leading PwC Luxembourg ESG assurance practice as well as the PwC EMEA ESG working group for asset management. He is also an active member in a number of industry working groups on sustainable finance including EFAMA, Invest Europe, ALFI and the LPEA.

He developed his knowledge and expertise of sustainable finance through a wide range of engagements including but not limited to regulatory gap assessment, assurance reviews of sustainability report and ESG KPIs across all asset classes.

In addition to his sustainable finance and ESG responsibilities, Geoffroy is also responsible for the audit of mutual funds, hedge funds and private equity funds for global asset managers across various investments strategies.