Recital 56

(56) As the transition of the Union economy towards a sustainable economic model gains momentum, sustainability risks become more prominent and potentially require further consideration. An appropriate assessment of the availability and accessibility of reliable and consistent ESG data should form the basis for establishing a full link between ESG risk drivers and traditional categories of financial risks and sets of exposures. ESMA should also contribute to that evidence gathering by reporting on whether ESG risks are appropriately reflected in credit risk ratings of the counterparties or exposures that institutions might have. In a context of rapid and continuous developments around identification and quantification of ESG risks by both institutions and supervisors, it is also necessary to bring forward to the date of entry into force of this Regulation part of EBA’s mandate to assess and report on whether a dedicated prudential treatment of exposures related to assets or activities substantially associated with environmental or social objectives would be justified. The existing EBA mandate should be broken into a series of reports due to the length and complexity of the assessment work to be conducted. Therefore, two successive and annual follow-up EBA reports should be prepared by the end of 2024 and 2025, respectively. According to the International Energy Agency, to reach the carbon neutrality objective by 2050, no new fossil fuel exploration and expansion can take place. That means that fossil fuel exposures are prone to representing a higher risk both at the micro level, as the value of such assets is set to decrease over time, and at the macro level, as financing fossil fuel activities jeopardises the objective of limiting the increase in the global temperature to 1,5 oC above pre-industrial levels and therefore threatens financial stability. Competent authorities and market participants should, therefore, benefit from increased transparency by institutions on their exposures towards fossil fuel sector entities, including their activity in respect of renewable energy sources.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-09-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.