Legal & Regulatory News

​EU Platform on Sustainable Finance sets out its concerns in relation to the draft Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act covering nuclear and gas activities

On 24 January 2022, the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance (the Platform) published its response to the European Commission's call for feedback on a draft text of a Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act which covers gas and nuclear activities under the Taxonomy Regulation ((EU) 2020/852).

The Platform's response provides feedback on environmental performance and usability aspects of the draft technical screening criteria (TSC) under the proposed Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act. In its response, the Platform states that the draft TSC are misaligned with the Taxonomy Regulation and notes that a number of members of the Platform see a serious risk that the TSC may undermine the whole Taxonomy framework.

The Platform's key recommendations to the European Commission are as follows:

• nuclear energy facilities do not meet the 'Do No Significant Harm' criteria and should not be considered as aligned with the Taxonomy Regulation;
• in relation to the generation of electricity using fossil gaseous fuels, only life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions lower than 100 g CO2e/kWh would meet the requirement for making a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation; and
• any TSC relating to greenhouse gas emissions above 100g CO2e/kWh on a life-cycle basis could use an alternative taxonomy treatment such as an intermediate performance category (Amber) should the Taxonomy be extended beyond green, but are not aligned with the existing Taxonomy Regulation; and
• if the draft TSC are adopted in the proposed or a similar form, future corporate and financial product disclosures should be materially enhanced, and the verification requirement should be changed to avoid misleading claims about the environmental performance of economic activities and financial products.

The Platform's response states that it will respond shortly to the European Commission’s request for it to develop a proposal for an extended Taxonomy to cover Amber activities.

Click here to view the Platform's response.

Click here to access the European Commission's consultation