The European Commission has welcomed a new political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on the creation of the world's first-ever “green list” – a classification system for sustainable economic activities, or taxonomy.
This will create a common language that investors can use everywhere when investing in projects and economic activities that have a substantial positive impact on the climate and the environment. It will help scale up private and public investments to finance the transition to a climate-neutral and green economy, redirecting capital to economic activities and projects that are truly sustainable.
This political agreement underlines the EU’s commitment to implementing the Paris Agreement and reach climate-neutrality by 2050.
Up until now, there has been no common classification system at EU or global level that provides a definition of “environmentally sustainable” economic activities. The aim of this green list is to:
- Reduce fragmentation resulting from market-based initiatives and national practice
- Reduce “greenwashing”, i.e. the practice of marketing financial products as “green” or “sustainable”, when in fact they do not meet basic environmental standards.
This political agreement set out a general framework for what can be classified as an “environmentally sustainable economic activity”. Notably, it sets out the following:
Six environmental objectives:
- Climate Change Mitigation
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Sustainable Use and Protection of Water and Marine Resources
- Transition to a Circular Economy
- Pollution Prevention and Control
- Protection and Restoration of Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Four requirements that economic activities need to comply with in order to qualify
- They provide a substantial contribution to at least one of the six environmental objectives above;
- “No significant harm” to any of the other environmental objectives;
- Compliance with robust and science-based technical screening criteria; and,
- Compliance with minimum social and governance safeguards
The agreement sets out a general framework for green investment. A list of sustainable economic activities will be assessed based on the report from Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and will be developed through delegated acts.
For more information: link
Archivio:
A new United Nations report29 October 2024
Corporate sustainability due diligence14 December 2023
Introducing the Impact Taskforce (ITF) State of Play 202312 December 2023
Coke launches $137.7m sustainability fund15 September 2023
Impact Investing UK case study repository15 September 2023
European Commission adopted a Proposal for non-profit associations13 September 2023
Turn in European social procurement policies16 December 2022
The transition pathway for proximity & social economy15 December 2022
Social Value Matters Europe in October in Turin27 June 2022
The Global Citizen Impact Funds02 May 2022
Social impact integrates the new European innovation ecosystems09 February 2022
EU co-creation of the proximity and social economy ecosystem09 February 2022
The Impact Taskforce: time to deliver07 February 2022
Italy: ten million for benefit companies10 December 2021
Peer2Peer: Amsterdam Impact29 September 2021
EU Social Taxonomy for a sustainable finance27 September 2021
EVPA position paper on EU Action Plan for the Social Economy20 September 2021
Generation Changemaker29 June 2021
The Franchising Push for Social Impact31 March 2021
B20 at the start, in the sign of the impact revolution18 February 2021
Everyone a Changemaker, Ashoka’s mission15 February 2021
The Final Statement of The Economy of Francesco10 December 2020
B Corp and B Movement Builders11 November 2020
Road to Mannheim 2021, European Social Economy Summit08 October 2020
Responsible Banking07 October 2020
Cities and Social Impact Bonds05 October 2020
If not now, then when?22 May 2020
Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions27 February 2020
The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment18 November 2019