On 24 September, an EBC delegation attended a roundtable discussion on fostering transition through the sustainable finance framework, upon invitation from the European Commission. EBC President Philip van Nieuwenhuizen, accompanied by experts Emanuele Cecala from ANAEPA/Confartigianto, Nicolas van Renynghe from Bouwunie and Spyros Mathioudakis from the EBC secretariat, exchanged on how to make the sustainable finance framework more accessible, efficient, and straightforward for SMEs, focusing on the construction sector, with Mr. Michael Hager and Ms. Patricia Reilly, respectively Head of Cabinets of Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Mairéad McGuinness. Also present at the roundtable was a delegation of SMEunited to bring a cross-sectoral perspective.
The meeting was structured around the different elements pursuant to sustainable finance, including the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Voluntary SME reporting standard (VSME), as well as the EU Taxonomy and the Do Not Significant Harm criteria. Particular emphasis was placed on the impacts of the sustainable finance framework to SMEs, and more specifically micro companies in the construction sector.
The EBC delegates shared the difficulties facing construction SMEs and their view on how to improve the sustainable finance framework to make it more understandable and accessible. Notably, the need for the VSME under development by EFRAG to be as simple and user-friendly as possible, while being accepted by the whole value chain and financial institutions. The proliferation of different reporting questionnaires and requirements, notably by banks anticipating the requirements of the CSRD and the EU Taxonomy, indeed represents a major concern for SMEs. This is even more challenging at a time of an accelerated green and digital transition in construction. Achieving the Renovation Wave and a decarbonised building stock by 2050 requires that small construction companies have access to the necessary financial resources to contribute to the delivery of this ambition.
 From left to right: Mr Cecala (ANAEPA/Confartigianato), Mrs Zakari and Mr Huemer (SMEunited); Mr van Nieuwenhuizen (EBC); Mrs Reilly (Commissioner McGuinness’ Cabinet); Mr van Renynghe (Bouwunie); Mr Hager (EVP Dombrovskis’ Cabinet) | EBC will continue to advocate for a sustainability reporting and sustainable finance framework that is built around the needs of small construction companies, which make up 95% of the companies of the sector. In this sense, EBC looks forward to continuing exchanges with the European Commission on the sustainable finance framework in this new legislative cycle and how to make it simpler for small construction companies. |