(by Bj\u00f6rn Schneider)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On April 29-30 2022, a conference on \u201cSustainable Finance in European Jurisdictions\u201d was held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Initiators were Prof. Dr. Jens Ekkenga<\/em> (Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Prof. Dr. Martin Winner<\/em> (WU Vienna); host was the Ferenc M\u00e1dl Institute of Comparative Law (represented by Prof. Dr. <\/em>Em\u0151d<\/em> Veress<\/em>). The aim of the conference was a comparative analysis of the effects of the accounting and capital market regulations of the EU Commission\u2019s \u201cGreen New Deal\u201d on the laws of the member states. The main question was: Are these regulations suitable for steering capital flows in such a way that a \u201csustainability impact\u201d (in the sense of the ESG doctrine) is also achieved in the real economy? Renowned representatives from 14 member states were invited to present their country reports; Prof. Dr. Pierre-Henri Conac<\/em> (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg) also gave a keynote speech, which provided an overview of the European regulations and their potential for further development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The range of topics covered by the country reports was initially delineated by European law. Thematically, the reports dealt with several major blocks: (1) Sustainable Ownership or Shareholder Governance; (2) Sustainable Fund Governance; (3) Sustainable Product Governance; (4) Sustainable Financial Services Governance (on the terminology, see Ekkenga<\/em>, WM 2020, 1664 ff.). Similar problems were identified throughout. For example, the regulations examined all encourage vertical and horizontal cooperation, which raises the question of whether \u201cstewardship\u201d practices at shareholder level might not give rise to the risk of \u201cacting in concert\u201d and thus even a mandatory bid under takeover law. The concept of influence via the use of voting rights is not suited to the power relations within a group of companies. Dangers to competition among the portfolio companies with completely unresolved antitrust implications were also widely identified \u2013 an assessment that also seems to be shared by the German Monopolies Commission. In addition, the trend toward \u201clabeling\u201d to simplify sustainability reporting was viewed critically in various quarters, particularly due to possible conflicts of interest on the part of private \u201clabeling service providers\u201d. In connection with this, the problem of \u201cgreen washing\u201d practices was emphasized throughout \u2013 but also that neither the European nor the national legislators seem to have a satisfactory answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comparative approach of the conference, however, also led to interesting differences in addition to such diagnosed commonalities: Very fundamental differences arise primarily from the different real structures of the economies concerned, roughly speaking above all between \u201clarger\u201d and \u201csmaller\u201d economies. The latter not only have a much smaller number of directly affected companies (because they are listed on the stock exchange), but also often lack the administrative resources to implement the European requirements in a targeted manner. As a result, certain issues that are the subject of lively debate in larger countries such as Germany, France, Italy or Spain do not arise from the outset in \u201csmaller\u201d member states. Conversely, rooms for debate are opening up that have received little attention in \u201clarger\u201d member states. They concern, for example, the indirect influence of ESG regulation of listed parent companies on non-listed subsidiaries. Other issues have been identified that, for the time being, remain completely beyond research: for example, the role of banks in the context of \u201cESG credit covenants\u201d, where a problem already lies in the fact that empirical data are difficult to collect. How to deal with \u201chybrid forms\u201d such as the listed Stock Corporation majority-owned by non-listed shareholders also remained an open question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sustainable-finance-in-european-jurisdictions-programme-page-001-724x1024-1.jpg\")
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