How do we classify which investments are the right ones to power the transition to a climate and nature-friendly economy? 

This is a pretty big question, and one that is crucial to a successful implementation of the European Green Deal. The EU Taxonomy Regulation specifies the various criteria that investments will need to fulfil to be considered sustainable. In practice, the taxonomy is a long list of economic activities with benchmark performance standards.

Investments made in the coming years will be decisive in shaping the future of today’s young Europeans. These investments will help determine not only the environmental impacts of economic activities but the leading industries and kinds of job opportunities that exist. So how do we guarantee that these investments actually achieve what they are set out to do? How do we ensure that we don’t finance activities that support one goal but harm our ability to achieve others (e.g. helpful on climate but harmful to biodiversity)? And how is the EU Taxonomy implemented in practice?

On 27 April 2023, participants joined hosts Ricarda faber and Aaron Best from Ecologic Institute and their expert guests Sarah Lokman, Head of Sustainability at Greenomy, which helps financial institutions and businesses with sustainable finance reporting, and Ben Allen, Research Director at IEEP, a leading European environmental policy think tank.

The webinar is part of a new webinar series for young people in Europe that Ecologic Institute kick-started in 2022.

We have already produced a podcast episode on the topic that you can listen to ahead of the webinar: https://www.greendealbigdeal.eu/podcast/episode-7/

Below you can find the video recordings of Ben Allen and Sarah Lokman.