Manuel Coeslier (Mirova) joins the European Commission's Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance

This appointment once again underlines the driving role and deep expertise of Mirova’s teams in matters of sustainable finance. In 2017, Mirova’s CEO, Philippe Zaouati, served on the High-level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, created by the European Commission as part of its preliminary reflections. Now it is Manuel Coeslier, Equity Portfolio Manager, head of carbon strategies and specialist in carbon footprint issues who has been selected to join the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.

The Technical Expert Group, made up of 35 members selected on 13 June 2018 from 185 candidates, was set up by the European Commission to work on the concrete implementation of the Commission's action plan on sustainable finance . Its work is scheduled to be completed by 30 June 2019.

The main tasks of the Group are to:

• Develop an EU taxonomy of environmentally sustainable economic activities;
• Create a quality standard for European Green Bonds;
• Establish a category of "low carbon" benchmarks against which to measure the financial performance of low carbon investment strategies; - Define transparency metrics for climate-related information.
• The call for candidates to join the Group was launched by the European Commission in March 2018.

Since arriving at Mirova, Manuel Coeslier has contributed to developing the methodology for calculating carbon footprints. He is currently managing the Carbon Neutral strategy, which seeks to combine performance with minimum carbon impacts, in line with international targets for limiting global warming. Manuel Coeslier will therefore bring to the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance an expertise that is rare in the market and his theoretical and practical experience in carbon issues.

Background:
The European Commission had previously adopted a legislative package of measures on 24 May 2018, following the high-level conference of 22 March 2018 and adoption of the Commission action plan on sustainable finance of 6 March 2018. The action plan drew on the final recommendations of the high-level expert group (HLEG) for sustainable finance published on 1 February 2018.