EU advisers propose plan to cut corporate green reporting by a third

By Virginia Furness

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of sustainable finance experts tasked with advising the European Union have proposed changes to the bloc's rules for classifying climate-friendly activities, which they say will slash the reporting burden on companies by a third.

The proposal to simplify the bloc's green investment rulebook comes ahead of a major review of the European Union's broader sustainability rules and as Brussels draws up plans to cut red tape around green finance.

The EU is under pressure from member countries like France to simplify rules around doing business, while U.S President Donald Trump's pursuit of deregulation is causing anxiety within the EU about the bloc's competitiveness.

To boost green investment across the bloc and reduce the burden on businesses, the EU's advisers in a paper on Wednesday suggested asking for less information from some companies and introducing flexibility on the use of proxies and estimates, as well as other measures to streamline the EU's taxonomy regulation.

The EU taxonomy is a complex system to classify which parts of the economy may be marketed as sustainable. Firms in scope must disclose which investments, lending activities or share of their business activities comply with this criteria.

Other proposed changes include making it easier to comply with the "Do No Significant Harm" criteria, which banks, investors and companies must meet to prove a green investment or activity does not harm other environmental aims.

Taken together, the suggestions from the expert group should reduce the reporting burden on non-financial companies by a third, the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, which was tasked by the European Commision to simplify and improve the taxonomy, said.

The proposals on Wednesday are restricted to the taxonomy, not broader corporate green reporting requirements.

For banks and investment firms, the impact will also be significant, making it easier to report on the proportion of their assets that are green, as well as streamlining the process of ensuring a green investment or financial arrangement does not cause adverse harm to other environmental criteria, the paper said.

(Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Stephen Coates)