ESG Client note: Commission FAQs on Art 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation

As we recently reported, on 6 October 2022, the European Commission published in the Official Journal the final version of 33 FAQs on the interpretation of the Disclosures Delegated Act made under Article 8 of the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation.

The new FAQs supplement the 22 previously published on 20 December 2021 (summarised here) and the draft FAQs of 2 February 2022.

What’s the background?

Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation provides that entities which are already in scope of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive must disclose information on how, and to what extent, their activities are associated with Taxonomy-aligned economic activities.

The details of this disclosure obligation are set out in the Disclosures Delegated Act, supplemented by guidance from the Platform for Sustainable Finance and by the EU Commission.

The Climate Delegated Act sets out the criteria to be met by specific economic criteria in order to qualify as environmentally sustainable under the first two environmental objectives of

• climate change mitigation and
• climate change adaptation.

Our client note looks at a selection of the key issues covered by the Commission’s FAQs, grouped into the following areas:

• General questions
• Financial Institution Specific Questions and
• Debt Market Questions