Regulation (EU) 2020/852 Taxonomy Regulation

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Regulation (EU) 2020/852

Title: Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 2020 establishing a framework to facilitate sustainable investment and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088
Designation:
(not official) 		Facilitating sustainable investments, taxonomy regulation
Scope: EEA
Legal matter: European Union environmental policy
Basis: TFEU , in particular Art. 114
Procedure overview: European Commission
European Parliament
IPEX Wiki
To be used from: January 1, 2022
Reference: OJ L 198 of June 22, 2020, pp. 13-43
Full text Consolidated version (not official)
basic version
Regulation has entered into force and is applicable.
Please note the information on the current version of legal acts of the European Union !

The Regulation (EU) 2020/852 Taxonomy Regulation , full name Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 , is an EU regulation that, on the one hand, defines requirements for sustainable investments and, on the other hand, changes the disclosure regulation .

The regulation contains the criteria for determining whether an economic activity is to be classified as ecologically sustainable ( taxonomy ) in order to be able to determine the degree of ecological sustainability of an investment. It is a key piece of legislation that aims to contribute to the European Green Deal by promoting private investments in green and sustainable projects .

With the regulation, financial market participants, e.g. B. Investment funds that want to market a financial product as ecological are obliged to report on the proportion of ecologically sustainable investments within the meaning of the regulation in their portfolio . Companies that are obliged to submit non-financial reporting under EU Directive 2014/95 / EU (so-called CSR directive) must in future include information in their non-financial statements about how and to what extent the company's activities are involved environmentally sustainable economic activities.

The regulation was developed from May 24, 2018 to June 22, 2020 by the European Council, the European Commission and the EU Parliament.

history

On September 25, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a new global framework for sustainable development: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the core of which is the Sustainable Development Goals. The Commission Communication of 22 November 2016 entitled "Towards a sustainable future" links these sustainability goals with the Union's political framework to ensure that all internal and external policies and initiatives of the Union meet these goals from the start to be taken into account. In its conclusions of 20 June 2017, the Council reaffirmed the determination of the Union and its Member States to implement the 2030 Agenda in a fully, coherent, comprehensive, inclusive and effective way, in close cooperation with partners and other actors.

The shift to a CO 2 low-carbon, sustainable, resource-efficient recycling economy in accordance with the objectives for sustainable development is to secure the long-term competitiveness of the economy in the Union is of central importance. The Paris Agreement , approved by the Union on October 5, 2016 and entered into force on November 4, 2016, aims to tackle climate change more resolutely by, among other things, reducing the flow of funds with a path towards greenhouse gas emissions low-emission and climate change-resistant development must be reconciled. The realignment of capital flows towards a more sustainable economy is also part of the EU action plan to finance sustainable growth. A uniform classification system or a uniform taxonomy within the EU should ensure clarity as to which activities can be viewed as "sustainable".

Content of the regulation

Article 1 regulates the subject matter of the Taxonomy Ordinance: This ordinance contains the criteria for determining whether an economic activity is to be classified as ecologically sustainable in order to be able to determine the degree of ecological sustainability of an investment.

The regulation is addressed to three groups, which are addressed in the subsequent articles of the regulation:

  • EU member states and the EU itself
  • Financial market participants who provide financial products
  • Companies that are required to publish non-financial statements (e.g. as part of their annual reports). This applies in particular to European issuers of securities (e.g. shares and bonds) that are traded on (European) capital markets.

The main contents of the taxonomy regulation are:

  1. Subject and scope (Article 1) see above
  2. Definitions (Article 2)
  3. Criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities (Article 3)
  4. Application of the criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities to public measures, standards and labeling (Article 4), aimed at the EU Member States and the EU itself (see above)
  5. Transparency in pre-contractual information and regular reports (Articles 5-7), aimed at financial market participants (see above)
  6. Transparency in non-financial statements by companies (Article 8), aimed at issuers (see above)
  7. Environmental objectives (Article 9), the 6 known environmental objectives of the EU
  8. Significant contribution to / for ... (Articles 10–15), one article each on an environmental objective named in Article 9.
  9. Enabling activities (Article 16)
  10. Significant impact on environmental objectives (Article 17)
  11. Minimum protection (Article 18)
  12. Requirements for technical assessment criteria (Article 19)
  13. Sustainable Finance Platform (Article 20), the establishment of this platform
  14. Competent Authorities (Article 21)
  15. Measures and sanctions (Article 22)
  16. Exercise of the delegation (Article 23)
  17. Member State Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (Article 24)
  18. Amendment to Regulation (EU) No. 2019/2088 Disclosure Regulation (Article 25)
  19. Review (Article 26), obliges the EU Commission to review the regulation on a regular basis
  20. Entry into force and application (Article 27)

implementation

The taxonomy regulation came into force twenty days after publication in the EU Official Journal, i.e. on July 12, 2020. Since an EU regulation is a "legal act with general validity and directly effective in the member states", it is not implemented in national law the national legislators.

According to Article 27, depending on the environmental objectives (according to Article 9), this Regulation applies as follows:

  • from January 1, 2022 on climate protection (9 a) and adaptation to climate change (9 b)
  • from January 1, 2023 on the other environmental targets, d. H.
    • sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources (9 c)
    • Transition to a circular economy (9 d)
    • Avoidance and reduction of environmental pollution (9 e)
    • Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems (9 f)

The EU Commission is instructed by this regulation to issue delegated acts (i.e. RTS or ITS ) by the following dates in order to define technical evaluation criteria:

  • by December 31, 2020 for climate protection (9 a) and adaptation to climate change (9 b)
  • by December 31, 2021 for the other environmental targets (9 cf / see above)

These dates are each 1 year before the respective initial application (see above), so that everyone involved has 1 year for implementation.

Furthermore, the EU Commission will issue a delegated act by June 1, 2021, which will provide issuers (see above) with the content, presentation and method of the information within the meaning of Article 8 in non-financial reports in accordance with Directive 2013/34 / EU ( Balance sheet guideline) .

The RTS and ITS will refer to the technical report and its 593-page appendix of the TEG (Technical Expert Group) of March 9, 2020 - often referred to as the EU taxonomy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sustainable finance: Commission welcomes adoption of the Taxonomy Regulation by the European Parliament, press release of the European Commission, Brussels 18 June 2020.
  2. ^ Anna-Maja Schaefer: Sustainable Finance: New Disclosure Obligations under the Taxonomy Ordinance. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  3. ↑ Bernd Kliem: Publication of the Taxonomy Regulation in the EU Official Journal June 23, 2020.
  4. ^ André Depping, Matthias Etzel, Daniel Walden: Taxonomy Ordinance for Sustainable Investments adopted June 22, 2020.
  5. ↑ Action plan: Financing sustainable growth Communication from the European Commission, March 8, 2018, p. 5 f.
  6. ^ TEG final report on the EU taxonomy. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Technical annex to the TEG final report on the EU taxonomy. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG). Retrieved July 11, 2020 .