Reviewing the EU regulatory framework for ESG investors

Arthur Carabia and Anne Schoemaker

As inflows into sustainable investment funds continue to grow exponentially, policymakers around the globe are reviewing and enhancing rules applicable to these products, and those who manage or distribute them. As Europe concentrates the large bulk of sustainable investment funds (in terms of both number of funds and assets under management, AuM) and has been at the forefront of this new wave of regulation, this chapter will mainly focus on the European region (see Table 12.1).

To date, the EU’s approach, underpinned by its sustainable finance strategy (European Commission, 2021a), could be mainly characterised by a will to tackle greenwashing by requiring enhanced disclosures (the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, SFDR), and to channel further investments into sustainable assets by developing a common language (the EU Taxonomy and amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, MiFID) and optional labels (eg, EU green bond regulation and the EU Ecolabel for investment funds).

Table 12.1 Global sustainable fund universe
Region AuM (US$bn) Number of funds
Europe 2,276 4,958
US 343 555
Rest of the

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Risk.net? View our subscription options

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here