Funds and the European Sustainable Finance Landscape 2024
Research Paper
October 28, 2024
Preview
Sustainability-related funds continued to represent the majority of European fund assets (around EUR 8 trillion out of EUR 14 trillion). Equity and bond funds accounted for over 80% of assets, with global equity strategies particularly popular among SFDR article 8 and 9 funds.
In this paper, we assess how European-based funds have performed under key regulatory disclosure regimes and provide insights into their sustainability characteristics, including article 8 and 9 funds under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. We examine to what extent reported fund data has improved under the EU Taxonomy, following the first year of corporate disclosures in 2023, and the level of taxonomy-alignment across the European funds' universe. We also evaluate the European Securities and Markets Authority's new fund-naming guidance in Europe alongside the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements in the U.K. and discuss recent opinions from regulatory bodies such as the European Supervisory Authorities.
EU Taxonomy-eligible and -aligned activities for European-domiciled funds
Data as of July 31, 2024, n = 27,267. Aggregated fund factors are based on long-only total portfolios (including sovereign investments). Reported taxonomy data is for nonfinancial companies. Source: MSCI ESG Research
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