7 Amendments of Luke Ming FLANAGAN related to 2018/0180(COD)
Amendment 2 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) On 25 September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a new global sustainable development framework: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development24 , having at its core the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Commission's Communication of 2016 on the next steps for a sustainable European future25 links the SDGs to the Union policy framework to ensure that all Union actions and policy initiatives, within the Union and globally, including all future trade deals, take the SDGs on board at the outset. The European Council conclusions of 20 June 201726 confirmed the commitment of the Union and the Member States to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in a full, coherent, comprehensive, integrated and effective manner and in close cooperation with partners and other stakeholders. __________________ 24 Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN 2015). 25 26COM(2016) 739 final. COM(2016) 739 final. 26 CO EUR 17, CONCL. 5. CO EUR 17, CONCL. 5.
Amendment 3 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) Sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient, more resource-efficient and circular economy, as opposed to an over-emphasis on major trade deals with their resultant increased mass production and mass transport, are key in ensuring long-term competitiveness of the Union economy. Sustainability has long been at the heart of the Union project and the Union Treaties give recognition to its social and environmental dimensions.
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) In March 2018, the Commission published its Action Plan 'Financing Sustainable Growth'28 , setting up an ambitious and comprehensive strategy on sustainable finance. One of the many welcome objectives of that Action Plan is to reorient capital flows towards sustainable investment to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. __________________ 28 COM(2018) 97 final.
Amendment 5 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Achieving SDG objectives in the Union requires the channelling of capital flows towards sustainable investments. It is important to exploit fully the potential of the internal market for the achievement of those goals. In that context, it is crucial to remove obstacles to the efficient movement of capital into sustainable investments in the internal market and to prevent such expected obstacles from emerging, though not at the cost of facilitating easy movement of illicit capital.
Amendment 7 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) A wide variety of indices is currently grouped together as low carbon indices. Those low carbon indices are used as benchmarks for investment portfolios and products that are sold across borders. The quality and integrity of low carbon benchmarks affect the effective functioning of the internal market in a wide variety of individual and collective investment portfolios. Many low carbon indices used as performance measures for investment portfolios, in particular for segregated investment accounts and collective investment schemes, are provided in one Member State but used by portfolio and asset managers in other Member States. In addition, portfolio and asset managers often hedge their carbon exposure risks by using benchmarks produced in other Member States. Through all of this, however, it should be stressed that climate change measures should not fall prey to the whim of the finance markets.
Amendment 14 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Therefore, to maintain the proper functioning of the internal market, to further improve the conditions of its functioning, and to ensure a high level of consumer and investor protection, it is appropriate to adapt Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 to lay down a regulatory framework for harmonised low carbon benchmarks at Union level, bearing in mind at all times that the ultimate aim of these measures is to effect positive climate change, and not simply as a money- making instrument for the financial markets.
Amendment 19 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) A variety of benchmark administrators claim that their benchmarks pursue environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) objectives. The users of those benchmarks do, however, do not always have the necessary information on the extent to which the methodology of those benchmark administrators takes into account those ESG objectives. The existing information is also often scattered and does not allow for effective comparison for investment purposes across borders. To enable market players to make well- informed choices, benchmark administrators should be required to disclose how their methodology takes into account the ESG factors for each benchmark or family of benchmarks that is promoted as pursuing ESG objectives. That information should also be disclosed in the benchmark statement. The administrators of benchmarks that do not promote or take into account the ESG objectives, should not be subject to this disclosure obligation.