Open letter: The EU's new sustainable investment plan needs to be completely fossil expansion-free

A coalition of 133 organisations, including Reclaim Finance and WWF, argues that the European Commission's November proposal for the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is insufficient because it limits fossil fuel exclusions to only two of the three sustainable product categories. The signatories contend that allowing any ESG-labelled funds to support fossil fuel expansion would mislead investors, contradict EU climate objectives, and undermine the credibility of the SFDR framework.

• The European Commission's November proposal for the revised Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is criticised for limiting the exclusion of companies developing new fossil fuel projects to only two of the three voluntary sustainable product categories, rather than all three.
• Signatories argue that allowing funds in the ESG category to include fossil fuel developers would create fundamental incoherence in the SFDR framework and mislead investors who expect green-labelled funds not to contribute to fossil fuel expansion.
• The letter asserts that fully excluding new fossil fuel projects from the SFDR is essential for maintaining the framework's integrity, strengthening investor confidence, and meeting the EU's climate commitments.

APA

Manickawasagar, A. (2026). Open letter: The EU's new sustainable investment plan needs to be completely fossil expansion-free. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/02/19/open-letter-the-eus-new-sustainable-investment-plan-needs-to-be-completely-fossil-expansion-free/

Chicago

Manickawasagar, Aatiraï. Open letter: The EU's new sustainable investment plan needs to be completely fossil expansion-free. Reclaim Finance, 2026. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/02/19/open-letter-the-eus-new-sustainable-investment-plan-needs-to-be-completely-fossil-expansion-free/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Manickawasagar |first1=Aatiraï |title=Open letter: The EU's new sustainable investment plan needs to be completely fossil expansion-free |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=19 February 2026 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/02/19/open-letter-the-eus-new-sustainable-investment-plan-needs-to-be-completely-fossil-expansion-free/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{manickawasagar2026open, author = {Manickawasagar, Aatiraï}, title = {{Open letter: The EU's new sustainable investment plan needs to be completely fossil expansion-free}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/02/19/open-letter-the-eus-new-sustainable-investment-plan-needs-to-be-completely-fossil-expansion-free/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }