Over a quarter of all Article 8 and Article 9 funds under the European Union's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) are at risk of greenwashing, according to research from MainStreet Partners.
The 2026 edition of MainStreet's ESG and Sustainability Barometer found that around 25% of Article 8 funds scored below the 3.0 threshold for ‘ESG‑assessed', while 30% of Article 9 funds scored below the ‘Sustainability‑assessed' threshold of 4.0. Rising standards, regional divergence in ESG expectations, and MainStreetʼs expanding universe have also collectively pushed average asset manager ratings lower across all fund categories, from an average of 3.8 in 2021 to 3.5 in 2025. MainStreet Partners' head of fund research, Sophie Meatyard, said: "While greenwashing risk is stabilising,...
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