A joint non-paper from Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on the biomass and bioenergy aspects of the EU taxonomy

Following the most recent developments related to Taxonomy Regulation several Member States reacted by sending out a joint letter with a special focus on bioenergy issues within. The letter came from Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Biomass in taxonomy joint non-paper

To recall, the Commission put forward the action plan on financing sustainable growth in March 2018. Action 1 of the action plan calls for the establishment of an EU classification system for sustainable activities, i.e. an EU taxonomy. The European Commission followed through on this action in May 2018 with a proposal for a regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (Taxonomy regulation).

On 18 December 2019, the Council and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on the Taxonomy Regulation. On 15 April 2020 the Council adopted by written procedure its position at first reading with respect to the Taxonomy regulation. The European Parliament approved the text pursuant to the “early second reading agreement” procedure on 18 June 2020.

On 22 June 2020, the Taxonomy Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 12 July 2020.

The Taxonomy Regulation tasks the Commission with establishing the actual list Biomass in taxonomy non-paperof environmentally sustainable activities by defining technical screening criteria for each environmental objective. These criteria will be established through delegated acts.

The taxonomy for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation should be established by the end of 2020, in order to ensure its full application by end of 2021. For the four other environmental objectives, the taxonomy should be established by the end of 2021 and will apply by the end of 2022. Further development of the EU taxonomy will take place via a new Platform on sustainable finance.