Posts by: Heidi Wardle

EC Launches Blockchain Observatory and Forum

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On February 2, 2018, the European Commission (“EC“) launched an observatory and forum dedicated to promoting discussion and collaboration on issues arising from blockchain technology. The forum will be for IT specialists, industry, public authorities, regulators, supervisory bodies and members of the public, to allow them to come together and discuss blockchain and the issues and opportunities it presents.

The Blockchain Observatory and Forum will be run by the blockchain software technology company ConsenSys, and its main objectives will be to coordinate across geographical borders, consolidate know-how, take advantage of opportunities and demonstrate thought leadership.

More information from the Commission about the forum and on Blockchain technologies more generally can be found here.

Final Report by EC Expert Group on Sustainable Finance

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On January 31, 2018, the European Commission (“EC“), published the final report of its high-level expert group (“HLEG“) on sustainable finance. A copy of the report can be found here.

The HLEG was established to help develop an overarching EU roadmap on sustainable finance and to give advice on how to steer more capital flow toward sustainable investments, identify steps that financial institutions and supervisors should take to protect the financial system from sustainability risks, and apply these policies on a pan-EU scale.

The HLEG recommended a number of actions, including the following, which were considered priority actions:

  • Establish a classification system (or taxonomy), starting with climate mitigation, to establish market clarity on what is “sustainable”;
  • Clarify investor duties and bring greater focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions;
  • Improve disclosure by financial institutions and companies to make sustainable opportunities and risks transparent;
  • Develop official EU sustainability standards for some financial assets, starting with green bonds; and
  • Integrate sustainability in financial institutions’ governance as well as in financial supervision.

On February 1, 2018,the European Commission published two annexes to the HLEG’s report, the ‘Informal supplementary document on green bonds’ (available here) and ‘Summary of the contributions to the HLEG on sustainable finance consultation document’ (available here).