{"id":25640,"date":"2024-01-16T13:14:03","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T13:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=25640"},"modified":"2024-01-16T13:14:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T13:14:03","slug":"the-financial-conduct-authority-attacks-greenwashing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/the-financial-conduct-authority-attacks-greenwashing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Financial Conduct Authority attacks greenwashing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced new rules to ensure a green label on a fund is more than just marketing puff.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It was perhaps no coincidence that the Financial Conduct Authority published a new set of rules on sustainable funds just as COP28, the UN global conference on climate change, got underway in late November. Interest in all forms of sustainable investing has surged in recent years, with an estimated $18,400 billion of assets currently managed globally under the environmental, social and governance (ESG) banner. By 2026, that figure is expected to reach $34,000 billion.<\/p>\n

The ESG boom has encouraged the launch of many new green, ESG, and sustainable investment products. That surge has prompted what the FCA noted last year as \u201c\u2026growing concerns that firms may be making exaggerated, misleading or unsubstantiated sustainability-related claims about their products; claims that don\u2019t stand up to closer scrutiny (so-called \u2018greenwashing\u2019).\u201d<\/p>\n

That potential gap between marketing claim and investment reality has seen regulators around the world take action. The rules issued by the FCA in late November are but the latest weighty example aimed at consigning greenwashing to history.<\/p>\n

One interesting aspect of the FCA\u2019s approach is that it has created a quartet of product labels to help investors understand how their money is being used:<\/p>\n