Insurance Europe calls for funding and ambitious timeline on ESG data hub

Europe’s insurers have called for appropriate governance, funding, prioritisation and scope for the European Single Access Point (ESAP), the proposed new data hub designed to clarify sustainability information. As trialogue discussions between the EU institutions on ESAP commence, Insurance Europe has published a set of key messages. “The European insurance industry strongly supports the establishment of the ESAP as an EU data hub, as it has the potential to play a key role in helping to close the current data gap, in particular regarding sustainability information,” states Insurance Europe. “The ESAP would allow insurers, Europe’s largest institutional investors, to access robust, comparable and reliable financial and environmental, social and governance data in an electronic, and machine-readable format. This will help insurers to steer their investment portfolios more effectively towards sustainability objectives and to comply with their regulatory disclosure requirements,” continues the insurer federation. “To ensure the successful development and operation of the ESAP, and its successful uptake, the platform must be well functioning, reliable and user friendly. Insurance Europe has highlighted the need for strong governance, adequate funding, ESG data to be made available as quickly as possible, and an appropriate scope for the ESAP,” adds the body. But Insurance Europe says the project needs strong governance and stakeholder and expert input. “Key stakeholders, including insurers, should be included in the main governance board and also in a technical advisory committee, which should be included in the governance structure. In this respect, insurers support the proposal by the European Parliament’s ECON Committee to establish a consultative group to support the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in implementing and monitoring the ESAP, but this should be a permanent, not an ad hoc, part of the governance framework,” says Insurance Europe. The insurer group also says that it is vital that ESAP has adequate funding to cover initial development, ongoing improvements, maintenance and user support. “The ESAP is a public good, and public funding will be needed to ensure rapid development of a well-functioning, reliable and user-friendly platform. However, given the need to ensure adequate funding on an ongoing basis and the ability, if necessary, to increase funding in line with real needs, it is important that ESMA is allowed to charge the users fees,” said Insurance Europe. “Strong governance is needed to ensure strict spending and budget control and to avoid excessive costs and fees. Flexibility for the ESAP to structure its fees is important so that, for example, fees can be waived for certain categories of users (eg, academics), higher fees can be charged for other categories (eg, data providers/consultancies that use the ESAP data to sell on services), and fees could also be charged for access to specific data sets,” continues the group. Insurance Europe also says that, considering insurers’ increasing ESG data needs and disclosure requirements, an ambitious launch timeline, combined with a phased approach, is crucial for the development of the ESAP. “There is an urgent need for ESG data to be made available via the ESAP as soon as possible, ideally as of January 2025. However, even if the ESAP is delayed by one year to 31 December 2025, preparatory work needs to start now,” said the federation. “The data sets needed for regulatory reporting under the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Directive (SFDR) is particularly urgent and should be prioritised in such a phased approach,” adds Insurance Europe. The federation also says that ESG data needed under the EU Taxonomy, CSRD and SFDR should be prioritised. “Financial, prudential and other types of information is less urgent. Alignment of the entry into force of new disclosure obligations with the timing of data availability through the ESAP is crucial,” said the federation.

Insurance Europe calls for funding and ambitious timeline on ESG data hub

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