November marks the first anniversary of the EU-funded ENGAGE for ESG Activation Investments (ENGAGE) initiative.
The ENGAGE initiative aims to contribute to the goals of the EU Green Deal, namely, to the activation of sustainable investments in the building sector, by promoting ESG transparency for residential mortgages and home renovation loans.
In its first year, the ENGAGE Consortium has made significant progress in developing standardised data disclosure templates and taxonomies for mortgage and home renovation loans in line with the most relevant European regulations, starting with the EU Taxonomy Regulation. The templates will be operationalised through the ENGAGE portal.
ENGAGE Initiative Coordinator, Marco Angheben says, “over the past year, the ENGAGE partners have been navigating the intricacies of the EU Taxonomy by translating regulatory requirements into actionable reporting fields building on the ESMA technical standards for disclosure requirements.”
The logic behind the ENGAGE templates is based on minimising reporting requirements whilst taking into consideration the nuances of new vs. legacy loans, data protection limitations and data quality challenges.2
The Development of the ENGAGE Templates as a Key First Project Milestone
At the core of the ENGAGE project are its data templates, providing the framework that will allow for the EU Taxonomy alignment assessment of mortgages and home renovation loans, as well as for compliance with other sustainability disclosures relevant to lending institutions.
ENGAGE Initiative Partner, Jacco Samuels of Hypoport, adds, “we are adopting a phased approach with the various developing regulations to help institutions comply with the requirements of the Energy Performance of Building Directive recast, the EU Green Bond Standard Regulation, and the ECB Roadmap for the Collateral Framework. It is not possible to operationalise them simultaneously, so we are taking a step-by-step approach.”
Further First Year Achievements and Outlook
In addition to the development of the ENGAGE templates, several other key activities were undertaken in the intiative’s first year. These include:
In the upcoming months, the ENGAGE Consortium will continue fine-tuning the templates and reaching out to lending institutions to onboard further pilots.
To learn more about the ENGAGE templates, join the webinar “The ENGAGE Templates: Addressing Disclosure Requirements for EU Taxonomy Alignment” on Thursday, 14 December at 11:00 (CET).
About ENGAGE
ENGAGE is funded by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) under the LIFE programme and led by European DataWarehouse (EDW). The consortium also includes Hypoport BV, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Woonnu B.V., Unión de Créditos Inmobiliarios S.A. Establecimiento Financiero de Crédito and Dexai-Etica Artificiale.
Project Background
Attracting private investments and stimulating green loan financing is crucial for the EU mission of achieving a zero-emission building stock by 2050. ENGAGE aims to provide a solution for a single data disclosure format for mortgage and home renovation loans, encompassing the most relevant European ESG regulations such as the EU Taxonomy, EU GBS and EPBD with the purpose of helping banks, regulators, and investors meet their respective needs in the context of the EU sustainable finance roadmap.
DISCLAIMER: Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
To achieve the proposed 55% emission reduction climate target by 2030, around EUR 275 billion of additional investments are needed per year.
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