The Responsible Investment Forum (FIR), one of the most active organizations in terms of sustainable finance in Paris, announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from its sub-committee for the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) label. , undergoing a complete overhaul.
The FIR, which had 120 members from the financial sector and civil society at the end of 2021, regretted in a press release at this stage, a direction of the work far from its recommendations, concerning the overhaul of the SRI label.
Officially launched in 2016 and promoted by the Minister of Economy and Finance, the SRI label, supposed to identify the most sustainable funds, has been engaged for more than a year in a project to establish new specifications for the following criticism for its lack of selectivity or notoriety with the general public.
Monetary funds and thematic funds on renewable energies cannot be put in the same basket
After issuing recommendations in October 2022, the SRI label committee is due to present its guidelines in early April, which will then be submitted for consultation from 18 April. Although the new label is intended to be inclusive, the debates still in progress within the SRI label committees focus in particular on the establishment of a gradation, with several degrees of labeling and different levels of requirements. But the latest work does not include this element, according to the FIR. To integrate a large number of financial products without risk of eco-laundering, we cannot put in the same basket monetary funds and thematic funds on renewable energies, argued to AFP Grgoire Coust, delegate general of the FIR.
The FIR also questions the understanding of the label by savers and the possible exclusions of certain sectors. The SRI Label Committee took note of the decision of the FIR, according to a press release, affirming that the FIR does not have a date of the overall vision of the revisions proposed and the decisions of the committee. Grgoire Coust assured AFP thatin case of a good surprise, the organization could come back fully within the label committee.
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