For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
‘equity’ means listed shares;
‘fixed income’ means listed debt securities, other than those issued by a sovereign issuer;
‘sovereign debt’ means debt securities issued by a sovereign issuer.
1.Benchmark administrators shall explain in the benchmark statement, using the template laid down in Annex I, how the environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors listed in Annex II are reflected in each benchmark or family of benchmarks they provide and publish.
The requirement set out in the first subparagraph shall not apply to interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks.
2.The explanation referred to in paragraph 1 shall include the score of the ESG factors vis-à-vis the corresponding benchmark and family of benchmark, at an aggregated weighted average value.
3.For individual benchmarks, benchmark administrators may, rather than providing all the information required by the template laid down in Annex I to this Regulation, replace that information by a hyperlink included in the benchmark statement, to a website that contains all that information.
4.Where benchmarks blend different underlying assets, benchmark administrators shall explain how ESG factors are reflected for each of the underlying assets.
5.Benchmark administrators shall include in the explanation provided a reference to the sources of data and standards used for the ESG factors disclosed.
6.Benchmark administrators that disclose additional ESG factors in accordance with Article 1(4) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1817(1) shall include the score of those additional ESG factors.
Benchmark administrators shall update the explanation provided whenever significant changes relating to the ESG factors occur and in any case on an annual basis. They shall state the reasons for the update.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 17 July 2020.
For the Commission
The President
Ursula von der Leyen