EU Commission adopted Delegated Act on Environmental Taxonomy

This new delegated act marks the further development of the EU Commission's list of environmentally sustainable activities by defining technical screening criteria for each environmental objective according to the EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/825.

In particular, for activities that contribute to the transition to a circular economy, technical screening measures and criteria that do no significant harm criteria (DNSH) are specified in Annex II of the draft delegated act.

This affects, among others, economic activities such as the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment, sale of spare parts, repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing.

Background:

The EU Taxonomy is an instrument developed by the EU Commission to guide investments in economic activities that are in line with the European Green Deal.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/825 defines conditions under which an economic activity can may be considered sustainable. It thereby constitutes a generally applicable classification system for such sustainable economic activities.

According to the EU Taxonomy Regulation, an economic activity is taxonomy compliant if it:

1. makes a significant contribution to one of the 6 defined environmental objectives;
2. does not lead to a significant harm to one or more of the environmental objectives (DNSH);
3. complies with minimum protection measures and standards with respect to work safety and human rights;
4. meets technical evaluation criteria developed by the Commission.

Delegated acts developed by the EU Commission specify these criteria, among others. The draft Delegated Act on Environmental Taxonomy may be understood in this context. The next step will be submitting the adopted text to the EU Parliament for consideration. After publication in the Official Journal, the regulation will enter into force.