Comments on the Ecolabel third technical report

Reclaim Finance critiques the third technical report for the EU Ecolabel for financial products, stating that new 'transition' and 'green growth' categories allow companies to continue investing in polluting activities without requiring Paris-aligned phase-out plans. The organization argues that the report's loosened restrictions on deposit accounts and reduced 'greenness' thresholds for UCITS equity funds undermine the label's ambition and could mislead savers.

• The third technical report introduces 'Companies investing in transition' and 'Companies investing in green growth' categories that fail to ensure the cessation of investment in polluting activities. Because the criteria only require an increase in green revenues and CapEx, companies can continue investing in polluting activities, including new fossil fuel projects, as long as they scale up green activities.
• The 'companies investing in transition' category lacks precise wording to guarantee a Paris-aligned phase-out of fossil fuels. Reclaim Finance notes that the requirement for a phase-out, closure, or fuel-switching plan for coal and natural gas power stations on a ten-year timeframe is too vague and should specify that plans be adopted before 2030 and involve immediate, progressive closures.
• The 'companies investing in green growth' category is criticized for not requiring the phase-out of polluting activities or the adoption of concrete plans to close polluting infrastructures, based on a dangerous assumption that these companies are already green.
• The third report loosens the ban on 'Ecolabelled' savings accounts granting loans to excluded companies. By allowing up to 30% of accounts to be used for 'non-green' loans, the framework could enable the financing of climate-destructive activities and mislead European savers.
• The 'green' ambition for financial products has been reduced in the third report: the required percentage of total portfolio value invested in environmentally sustainable activities for UCITS equity funds dropped from 60% to 40%, and the framework has abandoned the verification of Ecolabel criteria for derivatives.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2020). Comments on the Ecolabel third technical report. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Contribution-Ecolabel-for-financial-products.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. Comments on the Ecolabel third technical report. 2020. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Contribution-Ecolabel-for-financial-products.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Reclaim Finance |title=Comments on the Ecolabel third technical report |date=December 2020 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Contribution-Ecolabel-for-financial-products.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{reclaimfinance2020comments, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{Comments on the Ecolabel third technical report}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Contribution-Ecolabel-for-financial-products.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }