EU Adopts Environmental Performance Benchmark

On 9 December 2021, the first of two planned sets of technical screening criteria (TSC) for assessing economic activities as environmentally sustainable under the EU Taxonomy Regulation were published.  The TSC provide businesses and investors with "a clear environmental performance benchmark" against which to assess activities and investments as having a positive impact on mitigating and/or adapting to climate change.

Taxonomy & Climate TSC

The Taxonomy Regulation (Taxonomy) is the core legislative measure under the EU's Sustainable Finance Action Plan, adopted to facilitate financing of the European Green Deal by private capital markets.  The Taxonomy establishes an EU standard for environmentally sustainable activities by setting out a non-exhaustive list of economic activities accompanied by criteria for assessing each activity as positively impacting (or reducing negative impacts on) EU environmental objectives, while simultaneously not harming any of those