ESG update – New EU Commission FAQs on Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation

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On 6 October 2022, the European Commission (“EC”) published the final version of its 33 frequently asked questions           (the “2022 FAQs”) on the interpretation of the reporting obligations pertaining to eligible economic activities and assets imposed under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (the “Taxonomy Regulation”) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178 (the “Disclosures Delegated Act”).

1. Background and rationale

The 2022 FAQs, a first draft of which was published in February 2022, supplement the previous set of 22 frequently asked questions that the EC published back in December 2021 (the “2021 FAQs”), titled “FAQs: How should financial and non-financial undertakings report Taxonomy-eligible economic activities and assets in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation Article 8 Disclosures Delegated Act?”.

 

Like the 2021 FAQs, the aim of the 2022 FAQs is to clarify the content and help facilitate the implementation of the disclosure obligations imposed under Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation, according to which concerned entities are to include information on how and to what extent their activities are associated with taxonomy-aligned economic activities in their non-financial statements.

 

2. Concerned entities

Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation applies to both financial undertakings (such as asset managers, credit institutions, investment firms, insurance undertakings and reinsurance undertakings) and non-financial undertakings required to include a non-financial statement in their management report under Directive 2014/95/EU amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups.

 

3. Key considerations

The 2022 FAQs do not add any new content to the draft version of 2 February 2022.

They are divided into 8 sections:

  1. General FAQs
  2. Non-financial undertakings
  3. Financial undertakings 
  4. Asset managers 
  5. Insurers
  6. Credit Institutions
  7. Debt market 
  8. Interaction with other regulations

 

The 2022 FAQs clarify in particular:

 

Stay one step ahead of the game, and do not hesitate to contact our experts to help you meet the many and various challenges deriving from the constantly evolving ESG framework.

 

Read the 2022 FAQs here_

Read the 2021 FAQs here_

Access our timeline on key ESG milestones in the banking and insurance sectors here_

Download the press release

Luxembourg Newsflash – ESG update – New EU Commission FAQs on Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation

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