According to France Assureurs, 77% of assets managed by French insurers are covered by a climate analysis, with a 5% increase year-on-year. Additionally, 82% are covered by an ESG extra-financial analysis. Insurers also have very low coal exposure (0.6% of assets) and continue their divestment.

The European Green Deal, announced in December 2019, aims to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. This deal also plans to mobilize at least one trillion euros in sustainable investments over the decade to achieve this objective, with a particular focus on reducing emissions by 55% by 2030.

The renewed strategy identifies six sets of concrete actions. One of them aims to improve the financial sector's resilience to sustainability risks by including mandatory climate stress tests. These tests regularly assess institutions' resilience to physical and transition climate risks.

The March 2018 Action Plan is structured around three major objectives: redirecting capital flows toward sustainable investments, systematically integrating sustainability into financial risk management, and promoting transparency along with a long-term vision in economic activities. These objectives are interconnected and aim to achieve inclusive growth while meeting international commitments such as the Paris Agreement.

The European Single Access Point (ESAP) was created to address the challenge of the lack of consistent ESG data. It aims to create easily accessible and digitally exploitable databases to help asset managers collect and report detailed ESG data in compliance with the SFDR Regulation.

The EU green taxonomy is not limited to climate criteria. It also includes criteria for four other environmental objectives: sustainable use of water, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and ecosystem protection. Each activity must contribute substantially to at least one of these objectives without causing significant harm to the others.

Implications for the banking sector include EBA guidelines on ESG risk management and Pillar 3 ESG reporting obligations. For insurers, this includes the integration of sustainability risks into Solvency II and low coal exposure. For asset managers, the SFDR Regulation represents a profound transformation with transparency and fund classification obligations.

The SFDR Regulation (2019/2088) has been applicable since March 10, 2021. It imposes transparency obligations on financial market participants regarding the integration of sustainability risks and the principal adverse impacts of their investments. This regulation also establishes a tripartite classification of products into Articles 6, 8, and 9.