EU Taxonomy: expert group publishes biodiversity recommendations
30 March 2022by WWF -- last modified 30 March 2022
The EU Commission’s sustainable finance experts published today a detailed set of technical recommendations for the four non-climate environmental objectives of the EU’s guide to green investments, the 'Taxonomy'. These are water and marine, pollution prevention, circular economy, biodiversity and ecosystems.
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The report is the second to be published by the 'EU Platform on sustainable finance' this week, following its earlier analysis of a potential future economy-wide Taxonomy, to also show which economic activities are not sustainable. The Taxonomy aims to guide investments to help the transition to a green and sustainable European economy.
The new Platform's report covers more than 60 economic activities in 12 sectors, including manufacturing, transport, agriculture, fishing, buildings and disaster risk management. For example, they proposed biodiversity criteria for fishing and crop production, circular economy criteria for the construction and renovation of buildings, pollution prevention criteria for the finishing of textiles and water criteria for urban wastewater treatment.
The Platform is finalising criteria for a few more sectors including forestry and agriculture, for a complementary report in May. The European Commission is expected to draft a new Delegated Act building on the Platform's recommendations in the autumn.
"Biodiversity loss is accelerating dangerously. The Platform's recommendations are a crucial step towards the much-needed 'biodiversity taxonomy', aimed at driving billions into nature-friendly activities. However, WWF is concerned that some criteria for critical sectors like forestry and agriculture are not included in the Platform's report. The Platform must publish recommendations for them no later than May", said Sebastien Godinot, Senior Economist at WWF European Policy Office.
WWF was concerned with the forestry and bioenergy criteria in the climate taxonomy Act which became law last December. This is because the criteria were not science-based and they were at odds with the recommendations of the previous Commission's expert group. The law requires these criteria to be reviewed in 2022, along with the adoption of the 'biodiversity taxonomy' criteria.
WWF calls on the Commission to rely on the Platform's recommendations when they draft the forthcoming 'biodiversity taxonomy' Delegated Act.
WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. The European Policy Office contributes to this by advocating for strong EU environmental policies on sustainable development, nature conservation, climate and energy, marine protection, sustainable finance and external action.
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