The four additional environmental goals of the EU Taxonomy

This article focuses on the additional four environmental goals the EU Taxonomy sets. There are six different goals in total:  

• Climate change mitigation (effective since 01.01.2022) 
• Climate change adaptation (effective since 01.01.2022) 
• The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources (expected 01.01.2023) 
• The transition to a circular economy (expected 01.01.2023) 
• Pollution prevention and control (expected 01.01.2023) 
• The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems (expected 01.01.2023) 

The first two (climate) goals are already in effect and reporting on those goals is mandatory. However, the last four environmental goals did not receive their own Delegated Acts (DA) yet. These DAs specify, on the one hand the economic activities covered under each goal and on the other hand the technical screening criteria which allow for the assessment of alignment with the EU Taxonomy. The delayed publication, it was expected for 01.01.2023, entails a few questions for next years reporting season (in 2024 for 2023 numbers). 

One of the questions for example is, do companies which already are subject to EU Taxonomy KPI reporting need to report on the four environmental goals next year? 

Fortunately, the DA supplementing Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation includes a 12-month grace period for KPI reporting under the EU Taxonomy. This is specified in Article 8, paragraph 5. (see below) 

However, even with this grace period, the reporting requirements for next year’s reporting season should always be assessed by your regulatory teams in conjunction with the auditor to ensure regulatory compliance.