TUV Rheinland Hosts the First Green Finance Webinar to Emphasize Technical Standards for Improving ESG Performance

TÜV Rheinland Hosts the First Green Finance Webinar to Emphasize Technical Standards for Improving ESG Performance. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) September 25, 2021 - On September 1, the international independent third-party testing, inspection and certification organization TÜV Rheinland invited Value Reporting Foundation, DT Capital and Third Economy to present the ESG ratings and technical standards in our first Green Finance Webinar. The experts and stakeholders from ESG Disclosure standards, ESG rating and investors shared their views and comments on policy drivers for Green/Sustainable Finance, decision-useful reporting standards & metrics, and converting data/metrics to actionable ratings.

Please click here to view the playback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvliE9Irhyg

This webinar introduced the ESG rating and sustainability frameworks, providing insight and analysis to assist investors evaluate their portfolio. The European Commission published a statement this year estimating that 42 per cent of corporate websites contain claims that are “exaggerated, false or deceptive and could potentially qualify as unfair commercial practices under EU rules.” Greenwashing is a broad umbrella term used for different forms and practices of misleading communications of various organisations in relation to their performance on environmental as well as more general sustainable development-related indicators. Over 65% of webinar participants supported independent 3rd party verification or assurance of disclosed data is needed to stop ESG-washing.

Over 60% of respondents in this webinar selected insufficient clarity industry-specific metrics, inadequate knowledge about social, environmental compliance standards and qualitative/ descriptive disclosure posing challenges with interpretation as the top 3 challenges on ESG data. All speakers expected optimistic ESG development in next 2 years.

Jennifer Chan, Chairman and Non-Executive Director of DT Capital mentioned “ESG portfolio substantially growing, with more SMEs transforming processes towards green and better world”

Katie Schmitz Eulitt, Director of Investor Relationships – SASB of Value Reporting Foundation mentioned “Less talk, more action. More convergence of standards/frameworks with regulators taking action”

Spitler Chad, Founder & CEO of Third Economy mentioned “Less worried about lack of standards; with work of SASB and TUV Rheinland has progressed, so focus can be back on capital allocation at scale to solve complex problems”

Rakesh Vazirani, Head of Sustainability Services, Business Stream Products at TÜV Rheinland mentioned “to have examples of technical standards harmonized and linked to ESG disclosure, along with business case for using technical standards with aim to improve ratings and returns.”

To more accurately establish the ESG ratings and frameworks, it is crucial to incorporate third parties to monitor the authenticity of green claims made by organisations. TUV Rheinland provides the solution, utilizing our expertise in auditing against a list of standards on environmental and social aspects. As investors are not experts on the standards, third-party validation of corporate ESG disclosed data can provide more confidence and minimise the chance of greenwashing allegations.

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