A Comparative Study of European Sustainable Finance Labels

Abstract

This comparative study offers a detailed overview of nine major SRI labels in Europe and compares them on a relative basis along different dimensions of sustainability. The six dimensions that we selected for our comparative study are: (i) eligibility criteria of the SRI label, (ii) structure and composition of the SRI label, (iii) transparency of the SRI label, (iv) governance of the SRI label, (v) stringency of the SRI label, and (vi) impact of the SRI label. The study covers the following sustainability labels: three Green Labels (the French Greenfin label, the Luxflag Climate Finance label, and the future EU Eco-label) and six ESG-focused Labels (the Austrian Umweltzeichen label, the Belgian Towards Sustainability label, the French ISR label, the German-speaking FNG label, the Luxflag ESG label and the Nordic Swan label). The study identifies the leading SRI labels per dimension.

Keywords: Sustainable finance, labels, SRI, CSR, ESG, eco-label, green, climate change, carbon impact

JEL Classification: G1, G23, M14, Q56