Commission welcomes expert group reports on EU taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard

Today, the Commission has welcomed the publication by the
Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance of a report on the EU’s classification of green economic activities – or taxonomy – and a report on the EU Green Bond Standard. The Technical
Expert Group is made up of members from across civil society, academia, business and the finance sector, and assists the Commission in developing policies on sustainable finance. Today’s report on
taxonomy contains recommendations on the design of the EU’s ‘green
list’, including guidance on how companies and financial institutions can use it. The Commission will use this report as a basis to develop rules setting out the EU’s classification of green
activities for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for an Economy that Works for People, said: “Sustainable
finance will be essential to mobilise much-needed financing to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. These reports by the Technical Expert Group are welcome as they provide excellent input for us to
develop our final standards on climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. They will also help us establish EU green bond standards as part of broader measures to spur the take-up of
sustainable finance in Europe.” The Commission will adopt the classifications for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation in the form of Delegated Acts by the end of 2020,
as set out in
the Taxonomy Regulation. In addition, the report on the EU Green Bond Standard provides further guidance for businesses and market participants on how to use the recommendations made in June
2019 by the Technical Expert Group. The Commission will use an upcoming public consultation on sustainable finance to explore a possible initiative for an EU Green Bond Standard. The
Technical Expert Group will continue to meet in an advisory role until the end of September 2020 and provide advice on various sustainable finance topics. The Commission will organise a web-based
stakeholder dialogue on these final reports (available
here) on 12 March.