The Chair and Rapporteurs of the ‘Platform on Sustainable Finance’, a stakeholder group tasked by the European Commission to provide recommendations for the development of the technical selection criteria for the EU taxonomy, wrote to the Commission on 9 April expressing their concern that the original purpose of the taxonomy could be undermined by “pressure” as the Commission prepares to unveil the first delegated act to complete the taxonomy Regulation (due to be presented on 21 April).
Recalling that the original purpose of the taxonomy is to “provide robust, science based environmental performance criteria for green economic activities” to ensure that “investors, companies and other entities know which investments substantially contribute to environmental objectives”, the five signatories consider that there is currently a “misunderstanding” around this initiative.
Some stakeholders believe that what is not defined as a substantial contribution by the taxonomy is not sustainable when “this is not necessarily the case”, the signatories lament.
They added: “This misunderstanding is clearly resulting in pressure to modify the Substantial Contribution (SC) criteria, for example in energy, forestry, and agriculture activities, which risks compromising the original purpose of the taxonomy.
The letter therefore calls on the Commission to focus on the original purpose of the taxonomy, to avoid “weakening the criteria for substantial contribution” and to be transparent and rigorous in explaining the rationale for adding or changing criteria in the delegated act to establish new criteria for climate change mitigation and adaptation (two of the six environmental objectives in the taxonomy - see EUROPE 12684/3).
Since a draft version of the delegated act was leaked to the press, letters and calls criticising the Commission’s approach have multiplied (see EUROPE 12696/7, 12692/16).
See the letter: https://bit.ly/3wMvmyV (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)