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New Updates
In light of the feedback received and further assessments, the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) activities table has been updated with additional activities contributing to climate change mitigation in June 2022. The version published now is an updated version of the CGT, which incorporates the feedback received and includes additional activities (e.g. manufacturing and building activities) that were not covered in the initial version. The current version of the CGT covers 72 climate change mitigation activities that share common ground for both the EU and China taxonomies with regard to the “substantial contribution” criteria.
The updated version of CGT only covers climate change mitigation objectives. Other environmental objectives will be progressively covered in the future.
The current CGT is a comparison of the adopted Chinese and EU taxonomies. Therefore, it is not a self-standing global sustainable/green finance taxonomy per se. The CGT is not a legal document by the EU and China that entails requirements/obligations for either jurisdiction to change their taxonomy. It is a technical document for voluntary reference by interested parties within the limits of the scope of the comparison exercise. The CGT is expected to play a pivotal role in increasing the comparability and interoperability of sustainable finance taxonomies and definitions of green activities globally.
Use Cases
The findings of this comparison exercise are limited only to some features of the EU and China taxonomies and have no legal standing. The CGT may inform a variety of stakeholders, including:
Green bond issuers and verifiers;
Entities trying to assess the alignment of their business with low carbon economy
objectives;
Commercial banks and asset management firms trying to align their investment activities with low carbon economy objectives;
Development finance institutions;
Jurisdictions such as national governments or regional economic partnership
considering develop their own taxonomies;
International standard-setting bodies considering using the CGT as a reference for working on other sustainable finance standards;
Statistical data analysis and empirical study by academic researchers, etc.
Case Studies
Bank of China has announced plans to issue its June 2022 Green Bonds in Offshore Markets (Frankfurt) following this updated Common Ground Taxonomy.
Read more about the International Platform on Sustainable Finance's work on Common Ground Taxonomy here.
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