The European Parliament has adopted a key piece of legislation to add to the European Green Deal, whose aim is to increase private sector investment in sustainable and eco-friendly projects.
The new measure, called the Taxonomy Regulation, will help create a “green list”. This list is set to be a unified classification system for all sustainable economic activities in order to create a universal place that investors can go to invest in environmentally-friendly projects and economic activities.
The idea is that if investors have a list of places to invest in sustainable projects that are readily available, they will, thus assisting in fulfilling the EU goal to be climate neutral by 2050.
“The adoption of the Taxonomy Regulation today marks a milestone in our green agenda,” says Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. “It creates the world’s first ever classification system of environmentally sustainable economic activities, which will give a real boost to sustainable investments. It also formally establishes the Platform on Sustainable Finance. This platform will play a crucial role in the development of the EU Taxonomy and our sustainable finance strategy over the coming years.”
The European Commission has also put out call for applications for people who would like to be a member on the new Platform on Sustainable Finance. This will be a 57 member advisory board consisting of experts from both the public and private sectors who will assist the EC in developing the EU Taxonomy more extensively to cover other environmental objectives and provide advice on financing solutions for sustainable projects.