The Commission’s Action Plan for Financing Sustainable Growth and its Corporate Governance Implications
17 Pages Posted: 19 Sep 2018 Last revised: 2 Oct 2018
Date Written: September 19, 2018
Abstract
With the adoption of the Action Plan ‘Financing Sustainable Growth’ that has been published by the Commission in March 2018 the Commission is taking a range of steps towards inciting listed companies to conduct their business in a more sustainable or long-term oriented manner. In fact, this is not a new policy as similar policy goals were evident in the Directive on Non-financial Reporting (Directive 2014/95) and the revised Shareholder Rights Directive (Directive 2017/828). We show that many elements in the Action Plan are intended to have an impact on the governance of listed companies, and even touch on core company law issues. After analysing those elements in the Action Plan that aim at affecting corporate governance in listed companies, we conclude that the Commission's new proposals are different in at least three different respects from earlier initiatives with a similar aim: (1.) Its scope is broader, due to the Action Plan’s focus on the financial market as a whole, (2.) its regulatory instruments are more diverse, and (3.) its regulatory intensity is less soft.
Keywords: Sustainable growth, corporate governance implications
JEL Classification: K22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation