Why Financiers Are the Foundation of EU Corporate Accountability: The Role of Sustainable Finance Rules in Motivating Firms’ Environmental Impact Disclosure
Lisa A. CHASE – Céline IDIL
https://doi.org/10.18267/pr.2026.vol.2587.5
Abstract: This paper analyses the role of European Union (EU) sustainable finance rules in enacting the EU corporate accountability regime, in the context of revised corporate environmental disclosure rules. The EU portfolio of financial and corporate accountability policies includes the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). These rules are extra-territorial, applying to entities marketing products in the EU, regardless of domicile. Although the EU Omnibus package is poised to reduce corporate environmental disclosure mandates, proposed updates to the SFDR indicate a continuation of financial accountability requirements. Using interviews and data from a survey of EU-operating corporations and investment firms, and building on prior research, the authors examine the influence of the SFDR and sustainable finance rules in motivating environmental disclosures among firms selling products and services in the EU. Céline Idil provides the view from within the European Commission legislative apparatus, while Lisa Chase offers insights from outside the EU into the Commission’s corporate accountability policies. The authors argue that, in line with the Commission’s prioritisation of financial accountability to drive corporate environmental performance, financiers’ SFDR and sustainable finance compliance will be an increasingly important motivator of corporate accountability.
Keywords: non-financial reporting, ESG, SFDR, sustainable finance
JEL Classification codes: K2, F2, F3
Fulltext: PDF
Published by: Prague University of Economics and Business, Oeconomica Publishing House
Year of publication: 2026
Online publication date: 20 May 2026
Copyright: Authors of the papers
ISBN 978-80-245-2587-7
ISSN 2453-6113
Pages 66-79