Survey 2020
Download of survey report and methodology
Background
In light of Germany's Presidency of the EU Council in 2020, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment commissioned adelphi and ISS ESG to assess the current state of alignment of listed European companies’ economic activities and banks’ lending activities with the EU Taxonomy for sustainable finance.
The EU Taxonomy is one of the most important components of the EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth. The EU Taxonomy is a detailed classification system that defines and identifies economic activities that contribute to the EU's six environmental objectives. The EU Taxonomy provides a transparent and common basis for sustainable financing and investment decisions.
Objectives
The survey has three key objectives:
- Assessing the extent of taxonomy-alignment of European listed companies’ economic activities and banks' lending activities,
- Identifying potential challenges in and potential solutions for measuring taxonomy alignment and
- Raising awareness and building capacity regarding the EU taxonomy.
Approach
To shed light on the current state of taxonomy-alignment of European listed companies’ economic activities, adelphi conducted a Europe-wide survey and conducted in-depth interviews with 25 listed companies. ISS ESG measured the taxonomy-alignment of three European indices (EURO STOXX 50, CAC 40 and DAX).
To obtain insights into the current application of the EU Taxonomy to banks' lending activities, adelphi conducted in-depth interviews with six European banks.
The survey will go into a second phase in 2021.
As of today, this survey is one of the most comprehensive empirical assessments on the current state of alignment of listed European companies’ economic activities and banks’ lending activities to the EU Taxonomy. The results help to inform the ongoing discussions on the EU Taxonomy at the EU level and to maximise the relevance and usability of the EU Taxonomy for key stakeholders, in particular listed companies and banks.
