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Implementing and delegated acts - Taxonomy Regulation

Find links to implementing and delegated acts for Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (Taxonomy) on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment.

The Taxonomy Regulation gives the Commission the power to adopt delegated and implementing acts to specify what competent authorities and market participants need to do to comply with the obligations laid down in the regulation.

The Taxonomy Regulation tasks the Commission with establishing the actual list of environmentally sustainable activities by defining technical screening criteria for each environmental objective through delegated acts.

The Commission launched an educational and user-friendly website – the EU taxonomy navigator - offering a series of online tools to help users better understand what the EU taxonomy is in a simple and practical manner, which activities/sectors and technical screening criteria are covered, and how the reporting obligations work in practice.

Environmental Delegated Act

On 27 June 2023, the Commission adopted a Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act, including 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 Disclosures Delegated Act and to the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act, covering the environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation. The criteria are informed to a very large extent by the recommendations of the Platform on Sustainable Finance, published in March and November 2022.

The adopted texts were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 21 November 2023 and will apply as of January 2024.

Complementary Climate Delegated Act

On 15 July 2022, the Complementary Climate Delegated Act was published in the Official Journal. It includes, under strict conditions, specific nuclear and gas energy activities in the list of economic activities covered by the EU taxonomy. The delegated act applies as of January 2023. The criteria for the specific gas and nuclear activities are in line with EU climate and environmental objectives and will help accelerate the shift from solid or liquid fossil fuels, including coal, towards a climate-neutral future.

Assessment of nuclear energy

Following the political agreement on the Taxonomy Regulation between co-legislators, the Commission launched in 2020 in-depth work to assess whether or not to include nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities. As a first step, the Joint Research Centre – the in-house science and knowledge service of the Commission – drafted a technical report on the ‘do no significant harm’ aspects of nuclear energy. This publication is a Science for Policy report by the JRC, which aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific report does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. This report has been reviewed by two sets of experts, the Group of Experts on radiation protection and waste management under Article 31 of the Euratom Treaty, as well as the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks on environmental impacts. Their reviews are available below. The reports and these reviews will inform the Commission’s decision making.

Disclosures Delegated Act

On 10 December 2021, the Delegated Act supplementing Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation was published in the Official Journal and has been applicable since 1 January 2022. The delegated act specifies the content and presentation of information to be disclosed by undertakings subject to Article 19a or 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU (‘Accounting Directive’) concerning environmentally sustainable economic activities, and specifying the methodology to comply with that disclosure obligation.

Climate Delegated Act

On 9 December 2021, a first delegated act on sustainable activities for climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives of the EU Taxonomy (“Climate Delegated Act”) was published in the Official Journal. The delegated act has been applicable since 1 January 2022.

To make it easier to use the EU Taxonomy, the Commission launched an IT tool on the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities (the EU Taxonomy Compass). The tool allows users to navigate easily through the contents of the Climate Delegated Act.

Documents

21 NOVEMBER 2023
Taxonomy Regulation - Implementing and delegated acts: full list
English
(67.59 KB - PDF)
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