By Kate Abnett, Virginia Furness and Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Commission is proposing to provide more support to companies to invest sustainably and make it easier for them to access the money, a draft document seen by Reuters showed.
The proposal is part of broader plans to simplify the bloc’s sustainability reporting rules – expected next week – and bolster its competitiveness in the face of growing competition with the United States under Donald Trump.
As part of the plans, the Commision said it wants to increase the guarantee provided through InvestEU, the bloc’s flagship programme to support sustainable investment, innovation and job creation, by 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
By doing so, it hopes to mobilise an extra 25 billion euros in public and private investment.
The plan would reduce the administrative burden and reporting obligations for businesses looking to access that money by at least 25%, and by 35% for small and medium-sized businesses, the draft document said.
Among the proposed changes, it suggests changing the definition of what is considered a SME, reducing the amount of data the companies will need to report and changing the frequency of that reporting.
The proposed measures would expect to save 200 million euros for those involved in the process.
($1 = 0.9584 euros)
(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Virginia Furness; editing by Simon Jessop and Giles Elgood)
