Ogni agenzia di rating ESG, ogni gestore finanziario, ogni fondo di investimento ha una propria definizione, applica i propri criteri e la propria metodologia nella selezione del portafoglio di emittenti sostenibili. Criteri validi e metodologie rigorose, ma non universali e, quindi, non direttamente comparabili con altre offerte. Per questo la Commissione ha lavorato a lungo ad una definizione univoca di quali attività economiche – e quali investimenti – possano definirsi sostenibili.

Nel marzo del 2018 l’organo esecutivo dell’UE ha lanciato un enorme piano per creare un corpo di regole attorno alla finanza sostenibile: l’Action plan on sustainable finance. Il perno del lavoro della Commissione europea attorno alla finanza sostenibile è proprio la Tassonomia: la classificazione delle attività economiche che possono essere definite, appunto, “sostenibili” o meglio, “ecosostenibili”

European legislation on Taxonomy, defines the technical screening criteria for identifying economic activities defined as sustainable, governed by European Commission Regulation 2023/2486 of June 27, 2023, published in the European Official Journal on November 21, 2023, which complements Regulation (EU) 2020/2085 of June 18, 2020 (the so-called Taxonomy Regulation) on the establishment of a framework that promotes sustainable investment. 

The regulatory provisions make it possible to determine under which conditions an economic activity contributes substantially:

• • to the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, 
  • to the transition to a circular economy
  • to the prevention and reduction of pollution or to the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems 
  • and if it doesn’t cause significant harm to any other environmental goal.

The criteria identified by the Regulation, effective from January 1st, 2024, are identified in Annex II and they cover various economic activities such as, for instance, manufacture of plastic packaging, manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment, collection and transportation of nonhazardous and hazardous waste, treatment of hazardous waste, recovery of organic waste by anaerobic digestion or composting, decontamination and dismantling of end-of-life products, and sorting and recovery of materials from nonhazardous waste.