Biodiversity: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2486 by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources…

New Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2486 – also called the Taxonomy Environmental Delegated Act – as regards the assessment criteria for economic activities in view of their contribution to the six environmental objectives of the Commission was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the EU. The Delegated Regulation specifies the technical screening criteria for certain economic activities to qualify as „substantially contributing“ to the EU’s non-climate related environmental objectives and to „cause no significant harm“ to any of the other environmental objectives. It also modifies Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178, the EU Taxonomy Disclosure Delegated Act, to adopt corresponding disclosure requirements for these activities and to correct a small number of technical mistakes and inconsistencies.
In detail, the new Delegated Act specifies the technical screening criteria for activities to contribute substantially to or do no significant harm to the following four non-climate related objectives, namely:
1. the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources;
2. the transition to a circular economy;
3. pollution prevention and control; and
4. the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
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The activities thereby enclosed in the Delegated Regulation to contribute substantially to or to do no significant harm to objective 1 as noted above, the sustainable use and protection of water an marine resources, include – as quoted:
– Manufacturing
– Manufacture, installation and associated services for leakage control technologies enabling leakage reduction and prevention in water supply systems
– Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
– Water supply
– Urban waste water treatment
– Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)
– Disaster risk management
– Nature-based solutions for flood and drought risk prevention and protection
– Information and communication
– Provision of IT/OT data-driven solutions for leakage reduction
The activities thereby enclosed in the Delegated Regulation to contribute substantially to or to do no significant harm to objective 2 as noted above, the transition to a circular economy, include – as quoted:
– Manufacturing
– Manufacture of plastic packaging goods
– Manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment
– Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
– Phosphorus recovery from waste water
– Production of alternative water resources for purposes other than human consumption
– Collection and transport of non-hazardous and hazardous waste
– Treatment of hazardous waste
– Recovery of bio-waste by anaerobic digestion or composting
– Depollution and dismantling of end-of-life products
– Sorting and material recovery of non-hazardous waste
– Construction and real estate activities
– Construction of new buildings
– Renovation of existing buildings
– Demolition and wrecking of buildings and other structures
– Maintenance of roads and motorways
– Use of concrete in civil engineering
– Information and communication
– Provision of IT/OT data-driven solutions
– Services
– Repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing
– Sale of spare parts
– Preparation for re-use of end-of-life products and product components
– Sale of second-hand goods
– Product-as-a-service and other circular use- and result-oriented service models
– Marketplace for the trade of second-hand goods for reuse
The activities thereby enclosed in the Delegated Regulation to contribute substantially to or to do no significant harm to objective 3 as noted above, pollution prevention and control, include – as quoted:
– Manufacturing
– Manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or active substances
– Manufacture of medicinal products
– Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
– Collection and transport of hazardous waste
– Treatment of hazardous waste
– Remediation of legally non-conforming landfills and abandoned or illegal waste dumps
– Remediation of contaminated sites and areas
The activities thereby enclosed in the Delegated Regulation to contribute substantially to or to do no significant harm to objective 4 as noted above, the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems, include – as quoted:
– Environmental protection and restoration activities
– Conservation, including restoration, of habitats, ecosystems and species
– Accommodation activities
– Hotels, holiday, camping grounds and similar accommodation
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This Delegated Act also amends the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act to mandate that both financial and non-financial undertakings assess their economic activities in accordance with the new delegated regulation beginning from January 1, 2024 and to require the disclosure of corresponding key performance indicators (KPI)
– for non-financial undertakings from January 1, 2025 and
– for financial undertakings from January 1, 2026.