The Observatory Against Greenwashing, a coalition of NGOs including WWF, ECOS and Transport & Environment, unveiled, on Wednesday 18 January, an alternative Taxonomy to that of the European Union to allow banks, investors and insurers to check whether their investments are really green, based on scientific criteria.
This initiative is a reaction to the EU’s decision to include in its taxonomy certain economic activities related to bioenergy and forestry, but also activities related to gas and nuclear energy (under certain conditions).
“The science-based Taxonomy wants to succeed where the original Taxonomy failed: it will create rigorous criteria, which financial institutions can use to properly assess what is green and what is not”, commented a spokesperson for the Observatory Against Greenwashing.
According to the NGO statement, the tool thus replicates the criteria of the EU taxonomy whenever they are “robust”, but departs from them when they are “not rooted on science or harmful to the environment”.
In the future, the coalition intends to gradually expand its taxonomy by adding to the green category, or ‘sustainable activities’ the red categories for harmful activities and the amber category for activities that fall between the two.
To access the tool: https://aeur.eu/f/4yb (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)