EU: Mario Draghi’s report on the competitiveness of the EU economy provides a thorough analysis of the multiple challenges faced by European industry and companies to remain competitive at the global level.
The report supports market intervention and real economy policies in key strategic sectors such as capital markets, energy, telecommunications, and critical raw materials, encouraging a whole-of government approach to ensure all policies contribute to the EU’s objective to build a competitive European net-zero economy. Yet, in several places the report omits the crucial contribution of sustainable finance and ESG policies towards ensuring that EU businesses can create value in the long term.
As outlined in our EU 2030 Policy Roadmap, PRI supports efforts to improve the consistency and the usability of sustainable finance regulations and to develop further implementation guidance for market actors. However, the Draghi report fails to recognise how the EU sustainable finance framework (including CSRD, CSDDD, SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation) enables investors and companies to plan, finance and monitor their transition towards more sustainable business models. Increasing private finance is essential to ensure the EU’s competitive sustainability and the recent report from the Platform on Sustainable Finance demonstrates that the current framework is useful for investors to navigate the transition to net zero.
We encourage the European Commission to ensure the effective implementation of these key regulations in order to achieve the EU Green Deal objectives and to foster long-term sustainable prosperity in the EU.
Elise Attal, PRI’s Head of EU Policy, comments: “PRI welcomes the Draghi report’s assessment that the EU must pursue a holistic whole-of-government approach to effectively meet its environmental and competitiveness goals.
Investors are seeking improvements in the consistency and usability of the EU sustainable finance framework, as set out in our EU 2030 Policy Roadmap. Yet, the report should recognise the positive role of policies like CSRD, CSDDD, and the Taxonomy Regulation in enabling EU investors and companies to effectively plan, finance and monitor their transition towards more sustainable business models.
We encourage the Commission to build on the existing framework to facilitate its effective implementation - which will be key to achieving the Green Deal objectives and foster sustainable prosperity in the EU.”
