The role of securities regulation in governing sustainable finance

Abstract

This dissertation aims at focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of sustainable finance and the connection between sustainability, finance and business, whilst highlighting primarily sustainable finance from a securities regulation point of view and addressing the role of securities regulators. In order to limit the scope of this dissertation, sustainability shall mainly be dealt with from the environmental aspect, whilst reference shall be made to the social and governance aspects which tie thereto. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the transition to a more sustainable economy can be attained by applying the scope of securities regulation to sustainable finance practices. To this end, the dissertation uses the European Union’s most recent legislative attempts at integrating sustainability into finance as an example of how securities regulation can be used to promote sustainable finance. In this respect, this paper provides an overview of the aforementioned legislative package, which is comprised of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and amendments to Regulation (EU) 2019/2089. This dissertation also makes a number of recommendations which, in the author’s view, can be adopted by the Maltese legislator to promote sustainable finance in Malta. These recommendations are based on a comparative analysis of the efforts currently being made by foreign legislators and regulators in their respective jurisdictions. Recommendations are also given with respect to the functionality of the aforementioned Regulations and how they can be better implemented to reap the most benefits.