Consultation on draft ITS on Pillar disclosures on ESG risk

• The draft technical standards provide a framework for ESG disclosures to ensure stakeholders are informed about ESG exposures and strategies and can make informed decisions and exercise market discipline.
• The standards put forward comparable disclosures and KPIs, including a green asset ratio, as a tool to show how institutions are embedding sustainability considerations in their risk management, business models and strategy and their pathway towards the Paris agreement goals
• The EBA has developed the Consultation paper in parallel and consistently with its advice to the EU Commission on ESG disclosures under the EU taxonomy, including a proposal for a Green Asset ratio (GAR).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a consultation paper on draft implementing technical standards (ITS) on Pillar 3 disclosures on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. The draft ITS put forward comparable disclosures that show how climate change may exacerbate other risks within institutions’ balance sheets, how institutions are mitigating those risks, and their green asset ratio on exposures financing taxonomy-aligned activities, such as those consistent with the Paris agreement goals.

Disclosure of information on ESG risks is a vital tool to promote market discipline, allowing stakeholders to assess banks’ ESG related risks and sustainable finance strategy.

In line with the requirements laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), the draft ITS proposes comparable quantitative disclosures on climate-change related transition and physical risks, including information on exposures towards carbon related assets and assets subject to chronic and acute climate change events. They also include quantitative disclosures on institutions’ mitigating actions supporting their counterparties in the transition to a carbon neutral economy and in the adaptation to climate change. In addition, they include a GAR, which identifies the institutions’ assets financing activities that are environmentally sustainable according to the EU taxonomy, such as those consistent with the European Green Deal and the Paris agreement goals. Finally, the draft ITS provide qualitative information on how institutions are embedding ESG considerations in their governance, business model and strategy and risk management framework.

The EBA has integrated proportionality measures that should facilitate institutions’ disclosures, including transitional periods where disclosures in terms of estimates and proxies are allowed.

Consultation process

Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 1 June 2021. All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.

A public hearing will be organised in the form of a webinar on 29 March from 14:00 to 16:00 CET. The EBA invites interested stakeholders to register using this link.

The dial in details will be communicated in due course.

Legal basis and background

Article 434a of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) mandates the EBA to develop draft implementing technical standards specifying uniform disclosure formats, and associated instructions in accordance with which the disclosures required in Part eight of the CRR shall be made. Those uniform formats shall convey sufficiently comprehensive and comparable information for users of that information to assess the risk profiles of institutions.

The ITS will amend the final draft ITS on institutions’ public disclosures with the strategic objective of defining a single, comprehensive Pillar 3 framework under the CRR that should integrate all the relevant Pillar 3 disclosure requirements. This will facilitate institutions’ implementation and enhance clarity for users of such information, as expressed in the EBA Pillar 3 roadmap.

When developing these proposals, the EBA has built on the Financial Stability Board  Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (FSB-TCFD) recommendations, the Commission’s non-binding guidelines on climate-change reporting, and on the EU Taxonomy. The EBA has developed this consultation paper in parallel and consistently with the Advice to the Commission on disclosures under Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation, including a common proposal for a GAR.