The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today publishes a Call for Evidence on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings. The aim is to gather information on the market structure for ESG rating providers in the European Union (EU).

The Call for Evidence’s purpose is to develop a picture of the size, structure, resourcing, revenues and product offerings of the different ESG rating providers operating in the EU. The call is mainly addressed to three target groups:

• ESG rating providers;
• users of ESG ratings; and
• entities subject to rating assessment of ESG rating providers.

Today’s Call for Evidence is intended to complement a separate consultation to be launched by the European Commission (EC), that will seek stakeholder views on the use of ESG ratings by market participants and the functioning and dynamics of the market.

Next steps

Stakeholders are invited to submit their responses via the questionnaire available here by 11 March 2022 for ESMA’s consideration. The feedback received will be shared with the EC.

Source: ESMA