Parliament’s Economic and Environmental Committees rejected delegated act intended to simplify certain technical screening criteria for determining whether economic activities cause no significant harm to environmental objectives. Commission Delegated Regulations provide detailed technical rules aimed to help direct investments toward sustainable economic activities.
Joint meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI) on Wednesday, 3 December was marked by chaotic conditions. MEP Antonio Decaro (S&D, ITA), Chair of the ENVI committee, had to repeat the call for voting several times due to malfunctioning in voting equipment. Once the errors were corrected, the delegated act was—to the surprise of many—rejected.
Detailed definitions of ’green activities’
The Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/2139 supplements the EU Taxonomy Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/852). It establishes the technical screening criteria for determining if an economic activity is substantially contributing to either climate change mitigation or adaptation. Another criterion is if an activity avoids significant harm to other environmental objectives.
The regulation lists specific economic activities, such as the production of renewable energy technologies, and provides the so-called technical screening criteria that these activities must meet to be considered environmentally sustainable. It defines what qualifies as a ’green’ activity for the purposes of sustainable finance, ensuring a consistent and clear framework across the EU.
The result of Wednesday’s vote in the Economic and Environmental Committees means that the ’green’ criteria, often rather complicated ones, will not be simplified, or at least not soon. Representatives of the business community in particular have been calling for this for a long time.
