ESG

More than half of organizations surveyed by EY Ireland are struggling to turn their sustainability commitments into action, with funding shortages emerging as the biggest obstacle and fewer than a quarter actively delivering and tracking progress on decarbonization.

The FCA's 52nd quarterly consultation paper proposes miscellaneous Handbook amendments, the most significant being a simplification of product-level climate disclosure rules for asset managers, life insurers and pension providers following a post-implementation review. It also covers cryptoasset fee tariffs, authorized fund exposure to cryptoasset exchange traded notes (cETNs), cryptoasset financial promotion approver notifications, and UK CRR consequential changes. The consultation has closed, so compliance teams should now prepare for the forthcoming feedback and final rules.

EIOPA's Eurofi article argues that insurance should become an active tool for climate prevention, risk reduction, and adaptation within the forthcoming European Integrated Framework for Climate Resilience. It is a policy-positioning piece rather than binding regulation, but it signals where supervisory expectations, data requests, and consumer-protection monitoring on natural catastrophe risk are heading. Compliance teams should treat it as an early indicator of future scrutiny.

A firm expecting to earn £500,000 or more from environmental, social and governance ratings will have just over a month next summer to submit its application for authorization under the UK's new regulatory regime. Smaller providers will have a separate window. By June 2028, firms carrying out regulated ESG ratings activities in the country will generally need permission from the Financial Conduct Authority to continue.

The ACPR has begun close monitoring of the main French insurers' operational response to the summer 2026 wildfires, which caused roughly 25,000 claims and an estimated EUR €500 Million in losses. The loss is not a solvency threat, but the ACPR flags claims execution risk, policyholder information duties, and the longer-term insurability of climate-exposed risks. Compliance teams should treat this as a signal of supervisory expectations on claims governance, customer communication, and sustainability risk management.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has asked California to exempt federally chartered banks from two climate disclosure laws, warning that the reporting requirements could interfere with federal banking supervision and prompt some institutions to withdraw from the state.

In a September 14, 2026 speech slide deck, ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel argues that macroeconomic, fiscal, and financial stability are interconnected and that sound bank regulation let banks absorb recent shocks. She also warns that defense, interest, ageing, and climate costs, together with slowing potential growth, strain public finances. This is not a rule change, but it signals supervisory and policy priorities and the scenario backdrop that compliance and risk teams should reflect in stress testing and planning.