The first part of the EU Taxonomy has been agreed by Member States and will enter into force on 1 January 2022. The Taxonomy is a classification system that defines for investors, companies and policymakers which economic activities can be considered as environmentally sustainable. In this first part economic activities under to climate change mitigation and adaptation are defined. 

The sectors currently covered within the Taxonomy represent over 80% of GHG, including the building sector. One important point within the current Taxonomy which was widely discussed is that when acquiring new buildings they have to have an EPC class A to be considered as a green investment, or be within the top 15% of the national or regional building stock in terms of performance (p. 134 under climate change mitigation in the Taxonomy Delegated Regulation).

Currently the Taxonomy for economic activities related water-use, circular economy, pollution and biodiversity are ongoing and expected to be published by the start of 2023. 

Read the Delegated Regulation on Taxonomy for Climate Change Mitigation & Adapation here.

Read more on what the Taxonomy objectives and implementation.