Delegated regulation 2021/1253 - Amendment of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 as regards the integration of sustainability factors, risks and preferences into certain organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 277/1

The transition to a low-carbon, more sustainable, resource-efficient and circular economy in line with the Sustainable Development Goals is key to ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the economy of the Union. In 2016, the Union concluded the Paris Agreement (2). Article 2(1), point (c), of the Paris Agreement sets out the objective of strengthening the response to climate change by, among others, making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

Recognising that challenge, the Commission presented the European Green Deal (3) in December 2019. The Green Deal represents a new growth strategy that aims to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net greenhouse gas emissions from 2050 onwards and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. That objective requires that clear signals are given to investors with regard to their investments to avoid stranded assets and to raise sustainable finance.

In March 2018, the Commission published its Action Plan ‘Financing Sustainable Growth’ (4), setting up an ambitious and comprehensive strategy on sustainable finance. One of the objectives set out in the Action Plan is to reorient capital flows towards sustainable investments to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. The impact assessment underpinning subsequent legislative initiatives published in May 2018 (5) demonstrated the need to clarify that sustainability factors should be taken into account by investment firms as part of their duties towards clients and potential clients. Investment firms should therefore consider not only all relevant financial risks on an ongoing basis, but also all relevant sustainability risks as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) that, where they occur, could cause an actual or potential material negative impact on the value of an investment. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 (7) does not explicitly refer to sustainability risks. For that reason and to ensure that internal procedures and organisational arrangements are properly implemented and adhered to, it is necessary to clarify that processes, systems and internal controls of investment firms should reflect sustainability risks, and that technical capacity and knowledge is necessary to analyse those risks.

To maintain a high standard of investor protection, investment firms should, when identifying the types of conflicts of interest the existence of which may damage the interests of a client or potential client, include those types of conflicts of interest that stem from the integration of the client’s sustainability preferences For existing clients, for whom a suitability assessment has already been undertaken, investment firms should have the possibility to identify the client’s individual sustainability preferences at the next regular update of the existing suitability assessment.

Investment firms that...