The Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act includes a new set of EU taxonomy criteria for economic activities making a substantial contribution to one or more of the non-climate environmental objectives, namely:
- sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources,
- transition to a circular economy,
- pollution prevention and control, and
- protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
The Commission has also adopted amendments to the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act, covering the environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act.
The adopted texts have been transmitted to the co-legislators (the European Parliament and the Council of the EU) for their scrutiny. The Delegated Act will not come into force until it is published in the Official Journal.
Prioritisation of economic activities
This Delegated Act prioritises those economic activities and sectors that were identified as having the biggest potential to make a substantial contribution to one or more of the four environmental objectives and for which it was possible to develop or refine the recommended criteria without further delay. For certain sectors and activities, such as agriculture, forestry or fishing, as well as certain manufacturing activities, a further assessment and calibration of criteria will be needed, so these activities are not included in this Act.
No climate change adaptation criteria yet
As climate change is likely to affect all sectors of the economy, all sectors of the economy will need to be adapted to the adverse impact of the current climate and the expected future climate, according to the European Commission. The Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act therefore established technical screening criteria for climate change adaptation for all sectors and economic activities that were covered by the technical screening criteria for climate change mitigation. Due to time constraints, the Platform on Sustainable Finance and the Commission were not able at this stage to develop adaptation criteria also for the activities included in the Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act to make them adapted to climate change. The Commission aims to develop technical screening criteria for relevant activities to make them adapted to climate change in the future.
Amendments to existing Delegated Acts
This Delegated Act also amends the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act to ensure that the disclosure requirements laid down in it are consistent with the provisions of the Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act and to correct a small number of technical mistakes and inconsistencies.
The amending Delegated Act is part of a regulatory package that also includes the Delegated Act amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act, which sets out the technical screening criteria for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation for additional economic activities not yet included in that Delegated Act. It also introduces limited amendments of a technical nature to improve the implementation of the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act.
You can find the text of the draft Act and more information here.
