Research and Innovation at the heart of the EU Taxonomy

As a key contribution to the European Green Deal goals, the European Commission adopted on 21 April 2021 the EU Taxonomy criteria for economic activities to be qualified as substantially contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation, whilst respecting the environment. This brings important benefits and new implications for Research and Innovation (R&I).

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said:

The EU Taxonomy offers forward-looking opportunities to our researchers and innovators to access sustainable financing for their best technologies and solutions accelerating the transition towards a greener Europe. I count on our research and scientific community to continue to bring valuable scientific expertise and strengthen even more the level of ambition and impartiality of the EU Taxonomy.

Scientific evidence is at the core of the criteria of the EU Taxonomy, providing the scientific and research community with a key role to strengthen even more the level of ambition, robustness and impartiality of the EU Taxonomy. To that end, the Commission’s science service, the Joint Research Centre, is leading efforts to coordinate the technical work of the Platform on Sustainable Finance[1], the Commmission’s expert group in charge of developing recommendations on the EU Taxonomy.

R&I will also play an important role in helping to keep the EU Taxonomy criteria up to date and consistent with the long-term European Green Deal objectives, transforming the EU into a resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where the environment is protected. Moreover, R&I has been included as an integral part of the EU Taxonomy as an “enabling activity”, referring to its capacity to improve the performance of another economic activity through the technologies, products or services that it provides. In addition, the EU Taxonomy will trigger greater private investment in environmentally sustainable economic activities. As a result, R&I targeted to those economic activities will benefit from increased access to green finance needed to foster market uptake of innovative technologies and solutions.

More information

Factsheet: Research and innovation at the heart of the EU Taxonomy

DG Research and Innovation policy workshop report: “EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy – an opportunity for sustainable industrial R&I”

FISMA website dedicated to the EU Taxonomy

The EU Sustainability Taxonomy: a Financial Impact Assessment