EBF CONSULTATION RESPONSE
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Draft Report of the Platform on Sustainable Finance on a Social Taxonomy: EBF response

BRUSSELS, 14 September 2021 – Please find below a few key points of the EBF response to the consultation:

• The Social Taxonomy should remain a voluntary tool for both financial and non-financial undertakings to guide their positive societal impact.
• A balanced ambitious and robust framework is needed, and it must clearly define what can be considered socially sustainable in doing business, also from the point of view of corporate lenders who want to have a positive social impact.
• The Social Taxonomy should focus on the value added through the additionality of social impact in a company’s main activities and not become an all-encompassing ESG taxonomy. Such a taxonomy would end up classifying as social any business with social policies in place for their operations.
• The EBF welcomes the intended consistency with upcoming legislation, e.g. on Sustainable Corporate Governance, the CSRD as well as already existing market guidance on the Social Bonds Standard.
• It is important that the taxonomy clearly delineate its geographical focus (EU vs. global level); in particular reflecting on what impact it aims to create outside the EU.

For more information:

Denisa Avermaete, Senior Policy Adviser, Sustainable Finance, d.avermaete@ebf.eu
Eleni Choidas, Policy Adviser, Sustainable Finance, e.choidas@ebf.eu
Alexia Femia, Financing Growth, a.femia@ebf.eu

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About the EBF:
The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together 32 national banking associations in Europe that together represent a significant majority of all banking assets in Europe, with 3,500 banks – large and small, wholesale and retail, local and international – while employing approximately two million people. EBF members represent banks that make available loans to the European economy in excess of €20 trillion and that reliably handle more than 400 million payment transactions per day. Launched in 1960, the EBF is committed to a single market for financial services in the European Union and to supporting policies that foster economic growth.