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Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG)

Details

Publication date
13 June 2018 (Last updated on: 15 July 2020)
Author
Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union

Description

Overview

The European Commission set up a Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG) to assist it in developing, in line with the Commission's legislative proposals of May 2018

The TEG commenced its work in July 2018. Its 35 members from civil society, academia, business and the finance sector, as well as additional members and observers from EU and international public bodies work both through formal plenaries and subgroup meetings for each workstream. To allow it to conclude its technical work and retain the expertise before the future Platform on sustainable finance is set up, the mandate of the TEG has been extended until 30 September 2020.

For more information about the TEG’s work and the legislative proposals that guide it, see also the frequently asked questions.

In order to present and discuss the final reports of the TEG on the EU taxonomy as well as further user guidance in relation to its recommendations for an EU Green Bond Standard, the Commission hosted a web-based stakeholder dialogue on 12 March 2020.

In its 26 April 2020 statement on the Covid-19 crisis (also available in French, Italian and Spanish), the TEG encourages governments and the private sector to use EU Taxonomy, the Green Bond Standard and the Climate Benchmarks as tools to ensure a 'resilient, sustainable and fair' recovery.

The TEG followed up to this statement on 15 July 2020 with a short paper outlining 5 high-level principles for recovery & resilience, focused on applying the taxonomy.

EU taxonomy

The TEG has been working on developing the EU taxonomy for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. In December 2018, the TEG published an early feedback report which contained a first set of climate change mitigation activities and their technical screening criteria, together with a call for feedback on the proposed criteria. The call for feedback closed on 9 January 2019.

The TEG also engaged with over 200 additional experts in the first half of 2019 to develop technical screening criteria for the second round of climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.

Preparatory work: Final report of the TEG

In order to inform its work on the action plan, including on the EU taxonomy, the European Commission established a Technical Expert Group (TEG) on sustainable finance in July 2018.

Within the framework of the Taxonomy Regulation, the TEG was asked to develop recommendations for technical screening criteria for economic activities that can make a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, while avoiding significant harm to the four other environmental objectives (sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention control, and protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems).

On 9 March 2020, the TEG published its final report on EU taxonomy. The report contains recommendations relating to the overarching design of the EU taxonomy, as well as extensive implementation guidance on how companies and financial institutions can use and disclose against the EU taxonomy. The report is supplemented by a technical annex containing

  • Updated technical screening criteria for 70 climate change mitigation and 68 climate change adaptation activities, including criteria for do no significant harm to other environmental objectives
  • An updated methodology section to support the recommendations on the technical screening criteria

The TEG has also prepared excel tools to help users of the Taxonomy to implement it in their own activities.

This report builds on the work that the TEG published in June 2019 and the early feedback report published in December 2018. Both reports were subject to an open call for feedback to gather views from stakeholders. The responses authorised for publication can be found below:

In order to respond to the most frequently asked questions by stakeholders about the TEG’s final report and the Commission’s next steps, a joint document with frequently asked questions has been published by the Commission and the TEG.

During its mandate, the TEG also engaged with over 200 additional experts to develop their recommendations for the technical screening criteria.

More on the EU taxonomy

EU Green Bond Standard

The TEG has been working on recommendations for the development of an EU Green Bond Standard, with a view to increasing transparency and comparability of the green bond market, as well as to provide clarity to issuers on the steps to follow for an issuance, in order to scale up sustainable finance.

More on the EU Green Bond Standard

EU climate Benchmarks and disclosures for benchmarks

The TEG has been working on recommendations for the European Commission on the definition of minimum standards for the methodology of the ‘EU Climate Transition’ and ‘EU Paris-aligned’ benchmarks, that are aligned with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and addressing the risk of greenwashing. It has also worked on disclosure requirements in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in the benchmark statement and the benchmark methodology for all types of benchmarks (except interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks) including the standard format to be used to report such elements.

The TEG engaged extensively with experts in the field, organising several roundtables and workshops in order to obtain the best possible expertise and input.

More on the Benchmarks and disclosures for benchmarks

Climate-related disclosures

The TEG work on climate-related disclosures had a slightly different timeline than the other three tasks.

More on the Climate-related disclosures

Sustainable finance

Files

15 JULY 2020
Statement of the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG): 5 high-level principles for recovery & resilience
English
(747.35 KB - PDF)
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27 APRIL 2020
Statement by the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance: Sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic requires the right tools
English
(217.47 KB - PDF)
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13 MARCH 2020
Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG) - Taxonomy tools
English
(1.26 MB - ZIP)
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9 MARCH 2020
TEG final report on the EU taxonomy
English
(3.25 MB - PDF)
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9 MARCH 2020
Technical annex to the TEG final report on the EU taxonomy
English
(5.84 MB - PDF)
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9 MARCH 2020
Usability guide for the EU green bond standard
English
(2.22 MB - PDF)
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7 DECEMBER 2018
Technical expert group on sustainable finance - Benchmarks subgroup - December 2018 progress report
English
(642.94 KB - PDF)
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7 DECEMBER 2018
Technical expert group on sustainable finance - EU green bond standard (GBS) subgroup - December 2018 progress report
English
(578.49 KB - PDF)
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7 DECEMBER 2018
Technical expert group on sustainable finance - Taxonomy - December 2018 progress report
English
(627.88 KB - PDF)
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11 DECEMBER 2018
Technical expert group on sustainable finance: Spotlight on taxonomy
English
(550.82 KB - PDF)
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25 MARCH 2019
Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG) – Overview of outreach plans
English
(313.64 KB - PDF)
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31 JULY 2018
Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) – State-of-play – July 2018
English
(222.97 KB - PDF)
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13 JUNE 2018
Press release on the list of members of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance
English
(124.16 KB - PDF)
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7 MAY 2021
List of members of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance
English
(139.61 KB - PDF)
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30 OCTOBER 2018
Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) – Frequently Asked Questions
English
(762.24 KB - PDF)
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