EU Rollbacks, Ocean Funding Gap & Climate Data Cuts

Ready to catch up on the latest in sustainability and impact investing? This edition covers the EU’s push to simplify sustainability reporting, the $1T investment gap in ocean protection, and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative hitting pause. Plus, concerns over the U.S. quietly scrubbing climate data—explore the key developments shaping our future.

■ European Commission is looking to simplify the requirements of key sustainability reporting regulations

EU policymakers recently announced an Omnibus Simplification Package, which aims to streamline and reduce the requirements of several sustainability reporting regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and the EU Taxonomy.

The goal of this development is to cut the so-called reporting burden by 25% by 2025 to ensure regulatory clarity and preserve European competitiveness and attractiveness externally. Proposed adjustments include a greater focus on high-impact activities, easing requirements for SMEs, and delaying implementation deadlines by up to two years. While simplified requirements would, in theory, not change the regulations’ objectives, 162 asset owners have urged the European Commission to refrain from making excessive revisions that might dilute the framework’s initial sustainability ambitions. We now have to wait until the end of February for the European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen, to deliver a more precise picture of what this package actually entails.

■ $1 trillion in private market investments is needed by 2030 to unlock $15 trillion in value from oceans

We likely underestimate our negative impacts on oceanic ecosystems. However, we know that urgent action is needed as the ocean supports more than 50 million people for employment, and more than 3 billion people depend on it for food security. At the global policy level, the 30x30 target calls for protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. As the World Economic Forum notes ahead of Davos 2025, “We have moved beyond the need to make the case for “why” invest in the ocean, to the “how” and “where".

Sector-specific financial mechanisms are maturing, including blue loans and bonds, KPI-linked instruments, environmental credit schemes, and even “debt-for-nature” swaps – where countries receive financial relief in exchange for meeting environmental targets – yet investments still fall short of the $1 trillion USD needed.

This gap isn’t due to a lack of opportunities – a recent report identified 70 categories of actionable solutions in ocean renewables, ocean tech, sustainable fishing, blue carbon, and waste control - all of which could unlock $15 trillion in value by procuring food security, employment, and mitigating up to 40% of current greenhouse gas emissions. Despite opportunities across the risk spectrum, only 1% of global finance flows to the blue economy, making ocean protection the least funded SDG.

■ The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) will undergo review to stay fit for purpose

The Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative has now announced a pause on its activities. Established in 2020, NZAM rapidly gathered high support from the asset management community and committed its members to align their assets under management with net zero by 2050. After 4 years, and experiencing several member withdrawals, NZAM will now undergo a months-long group review to ensure it stays fit for purpose in a new global context. This suspension of activities was announced to be triggered by regulatory developments in the US and differing client expectations in investors’ respective jurisdictions. While major US players like BlackRock and Vanguard, recently dropped out from the initiative, others have communicated their continued though cautious support of NZAM, highlighting the need for a common force to advance the net-zero agenda in the industry. Other multi-trillion-dollar climate-focused coalitions under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) umbrella, such as Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Banking Alliance, have also been spotlighted in recent months. Members argue that failing to act collectively on climate risk threatens fiduciary duty and the economic benefits of the net-zero transition. Moving forward, GFANZ announced it will allow financial institutions that did not previously commit to net zero coalitions to openly participate in the group’s efforts and initiatives.

■ U.S. Scrubs Climate Data from Government Websites

The U.S. government is quietly removing climate-related content from its websites. Pages detailing climate change have been removed from the Departments of Defense, State, Agriculture, and Transportation sites, with over 8,000 pages taken down in total, according to a New York Times article. In addition to climate data, information on vaccines, mental health, and hate crimes has been scrubbed. In response, universities and community groups are scrambling to download this data and monitor the reduced access to public information. The Department of Transportation has completely removed its climate and sustainability section and shall have been ordered to delete any documents linked to climate change or social equity initiatives. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, warns, "The keys to the car have been given to the polluters, and they intend to drive it off the climate cliff." While The Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and The Department of Energy websites still host climate content, the removals raise concerns about transparency.