Research Shapes New Rules for Sustainable Investments

Topics: Economy Finance Sustainable Economy

Countries: Bulgaria Estonia Romania

The project team developed an EU policy brief on sustainable financial products, drawing on citizen surveys, regulatory analysis and mystery shopping – undercover visits to financial advisers to assess the quality of advice. Their findings directly influenced the European Commission’s 2025 draft revision of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the EU’s core rulebook for sustainable investments. The new draft requires providers to clearly state what environmental impact their products aim to achieve, how this impact will be measured, and what role investors play in generating it. The EU has thus adopted key project recommendations to better identify impact-oriented products – a crucial step to prevent greenwashing and strengthen trust in sustainable finance.