Press release: EU taxonomy new delegated act ‘a step in the right direction’ – ECOS reaction
The European Commission has published today a new draft delegated act, [1] developing their upcoming list of green economic activities – or ‘taxonomy’. This delegated act is ‘a step in the right direction’: it brings much needed clarity on which economic activities substantially contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The activities selected in this draft delegated act are based on the recommendations of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) published in March 2020, of which ECOS is a member [2]. The draft delegated act is now open for feedback [3].
This delegated act is ‘a step in the right direction’: it brings much needed clarity on which economic activities substantially contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Mathilde Crêpy, ECOS representative on the EC’s Platform on Sustainable Finance, said:
‘We are relieved that the GHG intensity threshold for energy production was not raised, despite all the desperate attempts from industrial lobbies.
However, we do remain concerned about the labelling of certain activities as ‘green’.
Plastics are our first concern. This proposal promotes recycling over reuse of plastics, in complete contradiction to the waste hierarchy. The European Commission does not look at the uses of plastics produced, as recommended by the expert group. Under this proposal, plastics labelled as ‘green’ could be used for single-use items.
Second, criteria on bioenergy have significantly been watered down compared to the previous ‘taxonomy’ draft. All feedstocks are considered as ‘green’ except those coming from high carbon stock and high biodiversity land such as peatlands, and wetlands – mirroring the requirements in the Renewable Energy Directive II. This opens the door to growing crops and cutting down trees to produce electricity and heat with ‘green’ money, even if that displaces food production, or causes significant biodiversity and carbon losses.
Finally, we remain deeply concerned about the clear lack of ambition on refrigerants: some products eligible as green under this proposal use cooling agents that are up to 675 times more potent than CO2. Yet, much less harmful alternatives are already widely available today’.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/mex_20_2176
[2] https://ecostandard.org/news_events/how-green-is-your-money-bells-ring-in-brussels-as-fight-to-set-an-official-list-of-sustainable-investments-starts/
[3] https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-finance/sustainable-finance/eu-taxonomy-sustainable-activities_en#201120
