BEUC NEWS - 02-04-2021

Together with scientists and environmental groups, BEUC has expressed deep concerns about potential greenwashing of the EU’s Taxonomy plans − its labelling system for sustainable investments. The group argued this week that the plans risk undermining the ambition of the EU’s signature Green Deal, supposed to make the EU a frontrunner in the climate fight.

A total of nine members of the European Commission’s Platform on Sustainable Finance (including BEUC) have expressed doubts about their continued membership of the Platform following concerns about the draft climate Taxonomy Delegated Act leaked last week. The signatories are particularly worried that the draft breaches the Taxonomy Regulation, notably on its criteria for forestry, bioenergy and fossil gas which are in direct contradiction with climate science.

These changes would label activities that may cause significant harm to the climate as ‘sustainable’. If this goes through, the Taxonomy would become a greenwashing tool instead of the gold standard in the fight against greenwashing it was promised to be. It would be even more harmful to investors than presently, as they would reasonably expect the taxonomy to have set high sustainability standards and could mislead them into making unsustainable investments. It would also penalise sectors making real efforts to comply with the Paris Agreement.

The signatories are urgently calling for fossil gas to be removed from the Taxonomy. Similarly, the criteria that classify forestry and bioenergy as “significantly contributing to climate mitigation” have no scientific basis.

The group has sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Vice Presidents Timmermans and Dombrovskis and Commissioner McGuinness.

Read the letter here and a report from Reuters here.