EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Regulation Published

A new EU Regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (commonly referred to as the Taxonomy Regulation) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Taxonomy is a classification system for sustainable activities that is designed to provide a shared understanding of the environmental sustainability of activities and investments. The Regulation sets out the environment objectives for the Taxonomy and the criteria for determining whether an economic activity qualifies as environmentally sustainable. It also makes various amendments to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, including requiring the European Supervisory Authorities to develop regulatory technical standards specifying the content and presentation of information demonstrating that a given investment does not significantly harm relevant environmental objectives. The Regulation also establishes a Platform on Sustainable Finance made up of representatives from European regulatory bodies, private stakeholders (including financial and non-financial market participants) and experts from civil society, academia and those with proven expertise in areas relevant to the Regulation. The Platform will advise the European Commission on a range of subjects relevant to the Regulation, including the development of technical criteria and the need for any amendments to the Regulation.

The publication of the final Regulation follows a report published by the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance in March 2020, which included the TEG’s final recommendations to the European Commission on the content of secondary legislation that will supplement the Taxonomy Regulation. Most provisions of the Regulation will apply directly across the EU from July 12, 2020. 

View the Taxonomy Regulation.

View details of the Technical Expert Group's taxonomy recommendations.

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