Regulatory and policy analysis
The Sustainable Finance Observatory provides extensive regulatory and policy analysis along with recommendations on how to improve sustainable finance frameworks as financial solutions. Our concrete actions consist in providing detailed analysis, evidence and policy briefs and promoting methodologies and tools with regards to national and EU regulations, such as the SFDR or the Taxonomy, and guidelines that support climate objectives.
The Sustainable Finance Observatory has actively contributed to shaping the EU sustainable finance policy agenda and achieved significant impact through fostering regulatory reforms and standards (including ISO standards, climate alignment methodologies and national labels), enhancing transparency, improving financial management and supporting shifting private finance towards sustainability.
We took a leading role initiating the first climate-related financial regulation in Europe which made climate change-related reporting for asset owners and asset managers mandatory (Article 173 of France's Energy Transition Law in 2015, updated by Article 29 of Energy-Climate Law in 2021).
Our regulatory research has provided evidence to supervisory authorities on market practice in relation to the mandatory assessment of suitability preferences during the suitability assessment under MiFID II. We have identified gaps in the regulatory framework in relation to governance of environmental impact claims and provided critical insights to the European Supervisory Authorities in relation to greenwashing risk. We have put forward policy recommendations for how the Taxonomy Regulation can be improved to incentivise nature positive investments. We articulated policy recommendations for categorisation of sustainable financial products which correctly allocates impact-oriented retail investment in the EU which were reflected in the Commission’s legislative proposal for a revised Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
We lead and participate in advocacy campaigns targeting EU and national policymakers as well as financial regulators and supervisors. In 2024, as a member of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, we played an active role in the working groups developing advice to the EU Commission, especially on recent work regarding SFDR.
Under the Finance ClimAct programme, we developed a suitability assessment questionnaire and guidance to help investment firms better integrate client sustainability preferences into financial product recommendations to ensure compliance with MiFID II regulatory requirements and evolving consumer expectations. We have developed guidance for financial institutions on how to reduce greenwashing risk for marketing claims associated with financial products. As 2° Investing Initiative, we developed the PACTA tool to measure the alignment of financial portfolios which is now used by over 3,000 financial institutions in more than 90 countries as well as supervisory authorities and central banks - including the European Central Bank. We played a key role in designing the ISO 14097 Standard which specifies a general framework for financial institutions to assess, measure, monitor and report on financing activities in relation to climate change and the low-carbon transition.
Our publications on regulation
Meet our regulatory and policy analysis team
Nicola Stefan Koch
Head of Retail and Impact Investing
Nicola leads the Retail and Impact Investing research programme. In this role, he oversees research, policy engagement, product development, and communications focused on how individuals can invest sustainably and how markets can better meet retail investors’ sustainability goals. Before joining the Sustainable Finance Observatory, Nicola worked as a sustainability consultant and analyst, where he focused on sustainability strategy, performance analysis, and communication projects. He also managed development of a sustainability assessment methodology used in over 150 company analyses. He holds a master’s in international politics, Administration and International Relations from Zeppelin University (with a sustainable development focus) and a bachelor’s in international economics and development from the University of Bayreuth.
David Cooke
Law and policy Lead
David is a lawyer by training and specialises in sustainable finance and the intersection of research, policy and regulation. He has worked across international trade, emerging market finance and climate change consulting and holds a Master’s in Sustainable Development. He previously worked at ClientEarth, the UK-based public interest law firm, where he focused on regulatory and legal strategies to improve corporate and investor transparency on climate-related financial risk, and engaged with financial regulators and government departments to strengthen oversight and accountability. He joined the Sustainable Finance Observatory in 2019 and provides cross-cutting support to research programmes on legal and policy implications.
Edouard Vilpoux
Lead Sustainable Finance Economist
Edouard is in charge of the Transparency pillar of our activities. After research studies in economics at the Paris School of Economics where he specialized in financial and monetary economics and banking history, he worked at Rothschild & Co for six years, in various roles related to corporate financing wealth and asset management, from corporate banker assistant to private banker. He joinded the Observatory in 2024 and his work focuses on financial institutions' climate transition plans.