Opportunities and Challenges for the EU Taxonomy

The EU taxonomy creates transparency and uniform definition of sustainable activities of companies by anchoring the provision of sustainability information in the companys’ existing sustainability reporting (CSR reporting). In addition, the taxonomy can serve as a basis for various other applications in the financial sector. For example, it can be used as a criterion for the allocation of subsidies or for inclusion in an investment fund. Our event aimed to open the view for these additional possibilities and to inform about the current challenges in the implementation of the taxonomy and the necessary extensions as well as tightening of the thresholds to reach the recently renewed climate targets. Against this background, DIW Berlin and PIK Potsdam organized this online roundtable to provide information on current developments in the development and implementation of the taxonomy, as well as ideas for discussion that build on the taxonomy to provide incentives for sustainable behavior. The event was part of the cross-cutting theme of “Financial Markets, Financial Sector, and Climate Finance”. Contributions were made by DIW Berlin, PIK Potsdam, Climate&Company, University of Kassel, University of Augsburg and University of Hamburg.