On Thursday, 3 December 2020, the long-anticipated delegated acts on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements for benchmark administrators authorised or registered under European Benchmark Regulation (BMR) were published in the EU Official Journal (OJ). In addition to the delegated acts on the ESG disclosure requirements, a delegated act on the EU Climate Transition Benchmark and EU Paris-aligned Benchmark was also published in the OJ. All these delegated acts will become applicable 20 days following their publication in the OJ, i.e. on 23 December 2020. Originally, the ESG disclosure requirements were due to apply as of 30 April 2020, but the delay in the adoption of the necessary delegated acts prompted ESMA to issue a non-action letter (we provided a blog update on this). Given that the delegated acts will become applicable prior to the end of Brexit transition period, they will become part of retained EU law in the UK and will apply accordingly to UK-based benchmark administrators.
The official texts of the delegated acts are accessible at the following links:
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1816 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the explanation in the benchmark statement of how environmental, social and governance factors are reflected in each benchmark provided and published.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1817 of 17 July 2020 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the minimum content of the explanation on how environmental, social and governance factors are reflected in the benchmark methodology.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1818 of 17 July 2020 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards minimum standards for EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks.
In order to further discuss the ESG-related requirements for benchmark administrators please contact Hannah Meakin and/or Anna Carrier.