On Monday, 23 March, the European Commission started work on drafting the first delegated regulation establishing the taxonomy for climate change mitigation and adaptation, which is expected to be adopted in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The regulation laying the groundwork for the future taxonomy for sustainable finance (see EUROPE 12393/20) actually tasks the Commission with adopting a series of delegated acts so as to establish technical screening criteria for determining whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.
The inception impact assessment published by the European Commission indicates that this first delegated act is expected to help companies and investors identify activities that already substantially contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In drawing up its delegated act, the Commission will rely on the final recommendations (see EUROPE 12442/14) of the Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance but will also involve experts from concerned DGs. The institution also clarifies that it will take into account “further evidence at its disposal to complement the TEG’s analysis where needed”.
As several rounds of consultations have already taken place to inform the work of the TEG, the Commission explains that there will not be another specific public consultation before that on the delegated regulation, once it has been published.
Nevertheless, stakeholders can, until 20 April, submit their comments on the Commission’s inception impact assessment at https://bit.ly/2WCWb8O. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)