ESG policy

Euroclear is committed to conducting responsible and sustainable business which is aligned with our purpose and the expectations of our stakeholders. Euroclear views Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters as part of the domains requiring consolidated oversight by Euroclear SA/NV (ESA) in its capacity as parent company. To ensure we adopt and maintain an effective approach that remains relevant and commensurate with our ambitions, and in accordance with the Group’s Risk Appetite, each Euroclear Entity must be able to demonstrate the Minimum Requirements of the ESA Board as set out below. These minimum requirements capture our common principles on ESG issues identified in the Double Materiality Assessment (DMA). The assessment identified material impacts, risks and opportunities across the group and serves as the basis for reporting under Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

This section of the policy sets out the Minimum Requirements that must be adhered to by each Euroclear Entity, subject to the provisions of the Group Matters Protocol. Euroclear SA/NV (ESA) will support each Euroclear Entity in their efforts to deliver the requirements set out in this document and some tasks under the policy can be outsourced to ESA under the Euroclear framework for intra-group outsourcing. In the latter case, an individual Euroclear Entity must cooperate with Euroclear SA/NV in fulfilling the outsourced parts of the requirements and the individual Euroclear Entity retains overall responsibility for taking reasonable steps to ensure the requirements are met. The specific division of responsibilities between each Euroclear Entity and ESA is outside of the scope of this policy but should be specified in policy handbooks and other documents, as necessary.

Our ambition is to build an environmentally responsible and climate resilient business. To reach this ambition, we have established principles to manage our environmental impact across four key issues: energy use and emissions, company-related travel, waste and resource use and climate risk, which have been captured in our net zero transition plan.

We ensure there is an appropriate level of awareness of ESG matters among the members of the board, management, employees and contractors and additional specialised training for certain positions where necessary. 

We also document the initiatives adopted to raise the awareness of ESG matters (e.g., trainings, communications, campaigns) and ensure that the training programme is periodically re-evaluated and updated.

ESA’s Corporate Sustainability Office will:

• monitor the adoption and implementation of this Group Policy across Euroclear Entities
• review this document every 3 years and report any review findings to Senior Management
• recommend amendments or additions, when appropriate

This ESG Group Policy is based on requirements set out, or expected to be set out, by:

• EU legal framework: 
  - Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) 
  - EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
• Other ESG frameworks: 
  - UN Global Compact Principles 
  - SBTI Net Zero Standard
• ESG-related international standards, norms and market good practice on Human Rights