Unraveling sustainability: ABBL CSR Handbook Updated

The ABBL Corporate Sustainability Working Group has updated two of the factsheets of our Corporate Social Responsibility Handbook to help ABBL members better navigate the sustainable finance regulations and sustainability standards prevailing today.

A lot can change in two years. In December 2021 the ABBL proudly published its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Handbook, the product of a 2-year-long project driven by our members with the support of Forethix, a consultancy firm which has since then joined our association. Over the course of eight factsheets, our Handbook unravels the many aspects of CSR and provides inspiration on how they can be (and are) implemented by the Luxembourg banking sector.

Yet, in the fields of CSR and sustainable finance, nothing is set in stone. Norms, standards and labels in these areas have evolved to keep up with changing expectations from businesses’ customers, civil society, and policymakers. The regulatory landscape changed dramatically in a short period of time, to the point that what used to be considered as best practices is going to become the new baseline. Reporting on sustainability for instance is becoming a mandatory exercise for many more businesses and banks, and must now be done in accordance with sustainability reporting standards that the EU wants to be as robust as existing accounting standards.

Our Corporate Sustainability Working Group, which monitors and discusses these developments, mandated a dedicated Drafting Committee composed of expert ABBL members to oversee the update of the ABBL CSR Handbook in June 2023. On [insert upload date] we have published the first batch of revised factsheets which now present an up-to-date overview of the normative and regulatory landscapes framing CSR and sustainable finance, along with many other improvements to keep the contents of our Handbook as relevant and useful as possible.

This first update is just the beginning. The Drafting Committee will now focus its work on creating two entirely new factsheets on human rights due diligence and transition plans, which we aim to release later this year. Further ahead, we will rework the factsheets relating to transparency to align with the latest best practices, in particular in the context of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

Access the updated factsheets here:

• Factsheet 2: CSR Norms and Standards
• Factsheet 3: The Regulatory Context

Get in touch with us at sustainability@abbl.lu to learn more about our CSR Handbook and how the Corporate Sustainability WG strives to create common knowledge and share best practices within the sector.