Nouvelles réglementations : va-t-on vers plus ou moins de greenwashing des fonds ?

Reclaim Finance critiques the new ESMA guidelines adopted by the AMF for ESG fund naming, arguing they create unequal requirements that risk 'transitionwashing'. The organization urges that the 2025 revision of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) must mandate the exclusion of companies involved in fossil fuel expansion to ensure genuine sustainability and protect investors from misleading claims.

• The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) will apply European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) guidelines starting May 21, 2025, to regulate the use of sustainability and ESG terms in fund names in France and other adopting European countries.
• The new ESMA naming framework establishes three categories of funds with varying requirements: 'Transition', 'Social' or 'Governance' funds (excluding controversial weapons, tobacco, and UN/OECD violators); 'Environment' or 'Impact' funds (adding exclusions for companies with significant fossil fuel revenue); and 'Sustainable' funds (meeting both previous criteria and investing significantly in sustainable investments).
• Reclaim Finance argues the new naming rules are insufficient because they allow for low-requirement categories and permit funds combining 'transition' and 'impact' terms to follow only the weaker 'transition' constraints, potentially leading to 'transitionwashing'.
• There has been a significant shift in fund classification under the SFDR, with 'Article 9' funds—intended to be the most sustainable—seeing a 24% decrease in assets over one year as managers reclassify them as 'Article 8' to avoid sanctions due to lower requirements.
• To effectively combat greenwashing, Reclaim Finance proposes that the 2025 SFDR revision should exclude companies developing new fossil fuel projects from funds claiming environmental or social goals, establish clear differentiated minimum requirements, and strengthen transparency and advisory obligations.

APA

Martin, L. (2025). Nouvelles réglementations : va-t-on vers plus ou moins de greenwashing des fonds ? Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/01/30/nouvelles-reglementations-va-t-on-vers-plus-ou-moins-de-greenwashing-des-fonds/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. Nouvelles réglementations : va-t-on vers plus ou moins de greenwashing des fonds ? Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/01/30/nouvelles-reglementations-va-t-on-vers-plus-ou-moins-de-greenwashing-des-fonds/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=Nouvelles réglementations : va-t-on vers plus ou moins de greenwashing des fonds ? |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=30 January 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/01/30/nouvelles-reglementations-va-t-on-vers-plus-ou-moins-de-greenwashing-des-fonds/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2025nouvelles, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{Nouvelles réglementations : va-t-on vers plus ou moins de greenwashing des fonds ?}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/01/30/nouvelles-reglementations-va-t-on-vers-plus-ou-moins-de-greenwashing-des-fonds/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }