ESMA publishes Consultation Paper on European Green Bond Standard Regulation

On 26 March 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA“) published a consultation on its first set of regulatory technical standards (“RTS“) under the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation (the “Consultation“). The Consultation addresses mandates relating to the registration and supervision of external reviewers and aims to clarify the criteria used for assessing an application for registration.

Background

The EU Green Bond Standard Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 30 November 2023. ESMA has been empowered under the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation to develop RTS and implementing technical standards (“ITS“). As part of the development of RTS and ITS, ESMA stated that it will publish two consultation packages, one in Q1 2024 and another in Q1 2025. The Consultation is the first of these consultation packages. The Consultation aims to collect views of stakeholders and market participants on the appropriate implementation of the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation.

For further information on the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation, read our earlier blog post here.

The Consultation

As mentioned above, the Consultation addresses mandates relating to the registration and supervision of external reviewers, including:

criteria to be assessed at the time of registration relating to senior management and board members;

criteria to assess sound and prudent management;

criteria for assessing knowledge and experience of analysts;

criteria applicable to outsourcing of assessment activities; and

standard forms, templates and procedures for registration.

The Consultation is open for feedback until 14 June 2024, following which the ESMA will issue a final report. The ESMA will subsequently submit the first RTS and ITS to the European Commission by 21 December 2024.

The ESMA also stated that it intends to address the remainder of its mandates under the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation in its second consultation package, which is due to be published in Q1 2025. Please see the below timeline, produced by the ESMA, for further information on the implementation of the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation.

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