ESG Data Product Service Providers: their critical role requires an urgent EU regulatory action

In 2018, the European Union (EU) initiated a Sustainable Finance Action Plan (European Commission, 2018), putting the financial sector at the core of the transition of the European Economy and society toward the EU Carbon neutrality by 2050. That plan, as renewed and complemented later, was encompassing the main part of the value chain of players, products and services having some role in the context of sustainable finance. One of the latest steps of this legislative agenda took place in February 2024, when the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on setting an EU regulatory framework for Environnement Social and Governance (ESG) rating activities (Commission, 2023b; European Parliament and Council, 2024) that will come into force on July 2, 2026.