On 22 July 2020, the European Commission adopted the following Delegated Regulations supplementing the Benchmarks Regulation on sustainable finance issues:
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) of 17.7.2020 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. The objective of this Delegated Regulation is to set out the minimum standards that EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks should meet in order to be labelled as such, and lay down the transparency requirements on the methodology for both benchmarks.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) of 17.7.2020 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 and annex. The objective of this Delegated Regulation is to lay down the minimum content of the explanation of how the key elements of the benchmark methodology reflect environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors for each benchmark, with the exception of interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks, as well as the standard format to be used.
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) of 17.7.2020 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 https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/3/2020/EN/C-2020-4744-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF and annex. The objective of this Delegated Regulation is related to the benchmark statement and how ESG factors are reflected in each benchmark or, where applicable, family of benchmarks provided and published.
The next step will be for the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to consider the Delegated Regulations. If neither the Council nor the Parliament object to the Delegated Regulations, they will be published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ). The Delegated Regulations will enter into force and apply 20 days after publication in the OJ.
