Examinations according to EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852
What is the EU taxonomy?
The EU's "Green Deal" created a concrete roadmap for a sustainable EU economy. As key measures of the action plan, concrete environmental criteria for sustainable economic activities are to be created, on the basis of which future investment decisions can be made. Defined criteria are to enable a clear and comprehensible evaluation. The aim is to steer capital flows into ecologically sustainable activities.
The EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852 of 18 June 2020 laid the foundation of this classification system for the financing of sustainable economic activities. It includes requirements for the environmental objectives
- Climate protection
- adaptation to climate change
- sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
- transition to a circular economy
- prevention and reduction of environmental pollution
- protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
In principle, no economic activities that are classified as sustainable may run counter to the other environmental goals ("do no significant harm"). Furthermore, the minimum requirements regarding human rights according to the OECD guidelines must be fulfilled and defined technical assessment criteria must be met. The detailed technical assessment criteria as well as the relevant economic activities for the environmental objectives are regulated in supplementary delegated regulations C(2021) 2800 final of the EU Commission of 04.06.2021.
Basically, the EU Taxonomy addresses companies and economic activities within the EU that want to classify and communicate their economic activities as sustainable. With the EU Taxonomy, an overarching, European standard was created to be able to determine the degree of environmental sustainability.
Specifically, the EU Taxonomy applies to financial market participants (e.g. credit institutions and fund managers) and, in principle, to all companies that provide financial products or corporate bonds declared as environmentally sustainable. These are capital market-oriented companies as well as banks and insurance companies with more than 500 employees that will report on the two environmental goals of climate protection and adaptation to climate change from 1 January 2022 for the reporting year 2021. Reporting on the other 4 environmental goals will then take place from 01.01.2023. Non-financial companies are only obliged to prepare a report (declaration) from 2022.
From 2024, additional companies may be required to report, taking into account further criteria (including balance sheet totals of at least EUR 20 million, net sales of at least EUR 40 million, number of employees of at least 250).
What are the advantages of the external assessment of the EU taxonomy?
It aims to promote transparency and validity of your economic activities by setting concrete environmental targets for sustainable investments and operations. It enables your company to highlight and communicate its climate change activities and efforts more clearly to relevant stakeholders, as well as to hedge further risks of environmental legislation.
With the external assessment by GUTcert you can additionally secure your reporting, improve the reputation of your company and increase the credibility of your environmental protection measures.
Thanks to our many years of experience, we have a uniform overview of the various requirements of environmental management and greenhouse gas accounting (emissions trading & carbon footprint). Our auditors and environmental verifiers can evaluate the requirements of the EU taxonomy and put them into the context of dynamic developments with you.
Use our verification confirmation as a confidence-building measure for your PR and marketing purposes - highlight the sustainability value of your company.
What are the prerequisites / requirements for the EU taxonomy?
The legal requirements of the EU taxonomy as well as the applicable delegated regulations and our experience from the accredited certification of environmental management systems according to ISO 14001 / EMAS and the verification of greenhouse gas balances are decisive for the assessment of your reporting on sustainable economic activities.
How does the verification process for EU taxonomy work?
You can find an overview of our certification procedure here.
As an accredited verification and certification body and the largest environmental verification organisation, we are regularly inspected by the accreditation bodies of the European states, in Germany this is the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS).
We would be happy to discuss our assessment procedure with you in detail and jointly determine the existing focal points and the focus of your sustainable business activities. Simply contact us!
Just give us a call or send us an e-mail if you would like more detailed information. We will also be happy to provide you with a non-binding offer.