EU Commission publishes draft technical FAQs on the EU Taxonomy

The EU Commission has published draft technical FAQs on the EU Taxonomy on 29 November 2024, available here.

The FAQ aims to answer specific technical questions on technical screening criteria for a variety of economic activities contributing to the six Taxonomy objectives, as well as questions on the generic criteria for "doing no significant harm" (including the climate risk and vulnerability assessment and the environmental impact assessment). The FAQ also answers some further general questions on the application of the Taxonomy by users, including on the use of third-party verification to verify compliance with Taxonomy requirements,  confirmation than a Taxonomy analysis must be refreshed annually, and clarifications on timeframes for companies reporting on EU Taxonomy.

The EU Taxonomy aims to act as a classification system that defines environmentally sustainable economic activities to guide investments and to create a common language for all actors in the financial system. It is supported by a number of delegated acts, which refine the criteria for activities deemed to be sustainable, and in particular provide technical screening criteria to examine activities which contribute to one of the following six Taxonomy objectives (the aims of which the activity must substantially contribute to achieving, whilst also doing no significant harm to any other objective):

• climate change mitigation;
• climate change adaptation;
• water and marine resources;
• transition to a circular economy;
• pollution prevention and control;
• biodiversity and ecosystems.

The FAQ are in draft form and still need to be translated into all EU languages but they are already valid guidance for EU Taxonomy users. They will be included in the EU Commission's FAQ tool in due course.