Europe wants to become more efficient and cut red tape: Is ESG now at risk?

A leaner Europe can come with some risks, writes Emer Walsh

'Competitiveness and sustainability are not opposing forces,' says Invesco's Vincent McCarthy.

Europe has an innovation problem. In recent years, a widening gap in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has opened between Europe and the US, underpinned primarily by a slowdown in productivity growth on this side of the Atlantic.

On a per capita basis, real disposable income has grown almost twice as much in the US as in the EU since 2000, according to former European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi, whose eye-opening analysis, published last year, detailing Europe’s challenges has drastically influenced the European Commission’s policy agenda.