Eurosif, the main European association for promoting and fostering sustainable and responsible investments in Europe, has published a new version of the European SRI Transparency Code, jointly with the other national SIFs.

The Code reflects the changes in the European Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) market, a long-term investment focus that integrates Environmental, Social and Governance factors (ESG) in the process of investigation, analysis and selection of values in an investment portfolio.

It includes a list of issues, divided into six sections: i) list of funds covered by the Code; ii) general information about fund management companies; iii) general information about SRI funds; iv) investment processes; v) ESG controls and vi) ESG impact measures and reports.

Funds covered by the Code must describe the resources and methodologies used for selecting their investments precisely and in detail. In the event that they cannot answer a question, they must clearly indicate the reasons preventing them from providing all or part of the information required.

They must also ensure that the answers provided are easily accessible from their website, update the answers each year and have a defined date for their publication.

In short, the new Code establishes a common framework for implementing best transparency practises in the field of socially responsible investment and acts as a guide for funds to provide their stakeholders with precise, adequate and timely information on their SRI focus in an accessible and comparable format.