Comparing China’s Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue and the Green
Industry Guiding Catalogue with the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (Part 1)
September 2019

I. Introduction to the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
Background▪

In March 2018, the European Commission passed theAction Plan: Financing Sustainable Growth, which
proposed a comprehensive EU-level strategy. It aims tomobilise private capital towards sustainable investment,enhance transparency and manage risks of climatechange and environmental degradation. Based on the 10
actions in the Action Plan, the European Commission
proposed three legislative initiatives in May 2018: the EU
Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, sustainability-related
disclosure1 and climate benchmarks and ESG disclosures2.

▪

In May 2018, the European Commission established thetechnical expert group (TEG) consisting of 35 members
and observers from civil society, academia, business andthe finance sector. It was supported by nearly 200
selected experts, with a mission to develop a list of
economic activities with requirements on environmental
performance for achieving the EU’s SDG. During the twoand a half years from December 2016, two large-scale
public consultation meetings were held to solicit opinions
and call for feedback from a wide range of stakeholders.

▪

In June 2019, the TEG issued three reports, the EU
Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, the EU Green Bond
Standards and the Voluntary Low-carbon Benchmarks.
The reports constitute an important part of the EU’s
Action Plan: Financing Sustainable Growth, as a basis forthe new regulatory framework for the European financial
sector and represent a significant step for EU’s response
to climate change and pursuit of the SDGs.

The European Commission has committed to reaching net-zero
GHG emissions by 2050 (climate neutrality). The European
Council agreed to achieve the following three key climate andenergy targets by 2030:▪
▪
▪

At least 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions (based on
1990 levels)
At least 32% share for renewable energy
At least 32.5% improvement in energy efficiency

Globally, a large amount of investment is required to achievesustainable development goals (SDG), the Paris Agreement andother environmental objectives. Public funding is not sufficient;tens of trillions of dollars from the private sector will beneeded to respond to climate change.
In the coming decades, the EU is required to make anestimated additional investment of EUR170 billion to EUR290
billion every year to achieve its main climate and energy
objectives. Therefore, it is crucial to reform the existing
financial system to motivate and reorient private capital.
The European Commission has announced a strategy to reform
its financial system and published the Action Plan: Financing
Sustainable Growth in March 2018, based on the advice of theHigh-level Expert Group (HLEG) on Sustainable Finance. The
plan elaborated on the ten key actions to be taken by theEuropean Commission as well as the timeline.
The Action Plan features the establishment of a new EUclassification system for sustainable activities - the EU
Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, which requires institutional
investors and asset managers to take into accountenvironmental sustainability as a trustee, and encourages
corporates to improve non-financial and climate-related
information disclosure.
The Action Plan combines various legislative and nonlegislative measures, marking an important step in EU’s
endeavours to incorporate sustainability considerations in thefinancial system. The Taxonomy is deemed to be one of thebiggest strides towards low carbon economy and is expected
to reduce the increasingly widening gap between climate
actions and investment in the real economy since theconclusion of the Paris Agreement.

The Establishment▪

In December 2016, the EU established the HLEG. In
January 2018, the landmark final report, Financing a
Sustainable European Economy was published. The
proposals formed the basis of the EU’s Action Plan:
Financing Sustainable Growth and accelerated theestablishment of the EU Technical Expert Group (TEG).

Table 1. Overview of 10 Actions in the EU’s Action Plan:
Financing Sustainable Growth1
2

Establishing an EU classification system forsustainability activities
Creating standards and labels forgreen financial products

3

Fostering investment in sustainable projects

4

Incorporating sustainability when providing
financial advice

5

Developing sustainability benchmarks

6
7
8
9
10

Better integrating sustainability in ratingsand market research
Clarifying institutional investors' and asset
managers' duties
Incorporating sustainability in prudential requirements
Strengthening sustainability disclosure andaccounting rule-making
Fostering sustainable corporate governance andattenuating short-termism in capital markets

Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy | Climate Bonds Initiative

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Key Features and Contents

Push Forward “Brown-to-Green” Transition

The EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (the Taxonomy) aims toprovide policy-makers, industries and investors with practical
tools for identifying environmentally sustainable economic
activities and investment opportunities. The significance of theTaxonomy lies in the fact that it demonstrated the criteria thatmust be met by the economic activities in the European region
to achieve the SDGs.

In addition to green and low carbon projects, the Taxonomy
also supports economic activities with the potential tofacilitate the “brown-to-green” transition. That is, it covers
some economic sectors and activities that are currently notgreen or low carbon, but are believed to be low carbon in
future, or will make substantial contribution to climate changewith policy incentives.

The Taxonomy provides a list of economic activities that arealigned with the six environmental objectives: climate change
mitigation, climate change adaptation, sustainable use andprotection of water and marine resources, transition to acircular economy, waste prevention and recycling, pollution
prevention and control, and protection of healthy ecosystems.

However, these activities must improve their performance
significantly to reach a level above the industry average. This is
to avoid the carbon lock-in effect of carbon intensive assets orprocess. The screening criteria for such activities will be revised
on a regular basis and be gradually more stringent over time.
The Taxonomy also includes some measures to support thetransition, such as energy efficiency and process improvement.

The technical screening criteria for 67 economic activities in
the Taxonomy are set based on two principles, Substantial
Contribution and Do No Significant Harm (DNSH). To be
eligible, an economic activity must make substantial
contribution to at least one or more of the six environmental
objectives, and does no significant harm to the other five, andmeets the requirements of the minimum Social Safeguards.
Table 2. Principles Adopted by TEG in Developing the EU
Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
▪
▪
▪

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Help identify the short- and long-term contributions ofan economic activity to environmental objectives
Specify the minimum requirements that need to be
met to avoid significant harm to other objectives
Develop methods, regulations, and sound market
classification approaches based on EU labelling andcertification schemes
Rely on conclusive scientific evidence, thoroughresearch and market experience to develop standards
Consider the lifecycle of an economic activity
Adopt the Technology Neutral Methodology
Introduce Social Safeguards to project screening
Transit from climate finance, green finance tosustainable finance at the objectives level

Substantial Contribution
Based on the performance criteria for determining thesubstantial contribution to six environmental objectives, theTaxonomy lists a series of economic activities. The list covers
various sectors relating to climate change mitigation andadaptation, including manufacturing, agriculture, transport,
buildings, power, water, waste, and ICT, etc. The report also
provides methodologies for assessing the contributions of
economic activities to climate change adaptation, detailed
guidance and cases for investors and other users to use theTaxonomy as a reference.
Do No Significant Harm (DNSH)
The Taxonomy assessed almost all these activities todetermine whether they are significantly harmful to otherenvironmental objectives. About 70% of the DNSH standards
can be met by complying with corresponding EU
environmental regulations. Though DNSH generally applies toeconomic activities, a specific DNSH assessment can be
conducted at company or project level. This requires more
efforts from a company or a project when collecting anddisclosing environmental information.

Recent Progress and the Next Step
The deadline for the TEG to complete their tasks has been
extended to the end of this year. During this period, TEG will
optimise and further improve the technical screening criteria in
the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. The TEG will also
consult the public, and prepare further guidelines for the
implementation and use of the Taxonomy, supporting theEuropean Commission to draft relevant legislation.
Though the Taxonomy only applies to European and foreign
market participants with sustainable financial activities in
Europe, it may also be used outside the EU. Currently,
governments, international organisations, research institutes
and industry associations are proactively participating in thecoordination and research for the Taxonomy. The aim is toensure the comparability and long-term convergence among
the EU Taxonomy and other existing green categories (such as
green project catalogues in China and ASEAN). The European
Commission will also amend the Taxonomy in the future;
hopefully more economic activities will be covered.
The EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy facilitate other policymakers and regulators to accelerate the establishment ofsustainable finance regulatory regime. Malaysia, India,
Morocco and Japan have included the list of eligible assets intheir green bond guidelines. The ASEAN Green Bond
Standards sets up green project categories and explicitly
excludes fossil fuels. The Ministry of the Environment of Japan
also provides a list of eligible projects in its Green Bond
Guidelines. As early as 2015, the People’s Bank of China (PBC)
released the Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, a list of
projects eligible for green bond issuance.
Other countries have also started to follow the EU TEG model.
The UK has established the Green Finance Taskforce. Canada
has set up the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance. Australia
has established the Australia Sustainable Finance Initiative.
Notes:
1. The European Parliament and the European Council reached anagreement in March 2019 to enhance disclosures by financial products
issuers and distributors to end investors. Financial market players must
disclose to their customers the impact of sustainability on financial income
and that of investment decisions on sustainability.
2. To give clear guidance to investors who intend to adopt the climate
sensitive investment strategy, the TEG issued an interim report on Climate
Benchmarks and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Disclosures inJune 2019. This report integrates the proposals made by the Financial
Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
and will provide guidance to around 6,000 European listed companies,
banks and insurance companies.

Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy | Climate Bonds Initiative2

II. Comparison among NDRC Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, PBC Green Bond
Endorsed Project Catalogue and EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
Table 3 Summary of Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue and the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
NDRC Green Industry Guiding
PBC Green Bond Endorsed Project
EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
Catalogue
Catalogue▪
Climate and environment policies and▪
Ensure the robustness of the▪
Pollution prevention
the Paris Agreement
green bond market
Guidingand control▪
6 environmental objectives and the▪
6 environmental objectives
Principles▪
Promoting green industry
principles of “Substantial Contribution”
without specifying thedevelopment
and “Do No Significant Harm”
relationship in between
Financial market participants, mainly
Users
Policymakers
Green bond issuers
investors
Classification ▪
▪

Screening
Criteria▪
▪

NACE code
Principles to define economic activities
with substantial contribution toenvironmental objectives, in particularclimate change
Specific and quantitative carbon
emission thresholds
Excludes fossil fuel activities withoutcarbon capture

Guiding Principles
In terms of the objectives and basis, the EU Sustainable
Finance Taxonomy (the Taxonomy) is formulated based on the
climate change and environmental policies in EU. The aim is tomeet the goals set out by the Paris Agreement, especially thetarget of net-zero emissions by 2050 and the sustainable
development goals. It specifies which economic activities areenvironmentally sustainable in order to reorient capital flows
towards these activities.
The NDRC Green Industry Guiding Catalogue (the Industry
Catalogue) is established based on China’s ecologicalcivilisation plan. It aims to define the green industries, guidethe policymakers and direct the investments in order topromote the development of green industries. Compared with
the Taxonomy which highlights climate change, the Industry
Catalogue has a focus on pollution prevention and control
without describing its background details and policy basis.
The PBC Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue (the Project
Catalogue) is set up for the green bond market with specificpurposes, i.e., defining green bonds, reducing the financing fornon-green projects in the guise of green bonds, improving
reputation of green bonds and regulating the development of
the green bond market to provide capital to corporates, assets
and projects with genuine environmental benefits.
Regarding environmental objectives, economic activities under
the Taxonomy are identified based on six environmental
objectives: climate change mitigation; climate change
adaptation; sustainable use and protection of water andmarine resources; transition to a circular economy; waste
prevention and recycling; pollution prevention and control;
and protection of healthy ecosystems. To be recognised by the
Taxonomy, an economic activity must meet principles of“Substantial Contribution” and DNSH, and the minimum social
safeguards and technical screening criteria.
In the Industry Catalogue, no environmental objective is
specified other than “pollution prevention and control”. The
Project Catalogue does not explicitly define any environmental

▪

▪
▪
▪

▪

Industrial Classification andCodes for National Economic
Activities▪
No principle to define
eligibility of the industries
No carbon emission threshold▪
Does not exclude fossil fuels▪

No principle to define projectsaligned with environmental
objectives
No carbon emission threshold
Does not exclude fossil fuels

No specific industry
classification systemobjective, but it is established in response to challenges ofclimate change, environmental pollution, resource constraints
and ecological degradation in China. The first-levelclassification in the Project Catalogue indicates environmental
objectives: energy saving, pollution prevention and control,
resource conservation and recycling, clean transportation,clean energy, ecological protection and climate change
adaption. However, the Project Catalogue does not highlight
climate change as does the Taxonomy.
Compared with the Taxonomy, the Project Catalogue does notillustrate the relationship among environmental objectives.
This may give rise to a dispute concerning whether a project
can be recognised as green if the project involves several
conflicting environmental objectives.
For example, a sewage treatment project may haveenvironmental benefits in terms of pollution prevention andcontrol, and resource conservation and recycling. However, if
its energy consumption is too high or no climate change risk is
considered during its construction, the project will not bring
benefits to or even have adverse effect on the environment interms of energy saving or climate change adaption. In previous
practices, such project is deemed green; considering theoverall environmental benefits, it is not necessarily so.
Other guiding principles of the Taxonomy include: supportingease of use, building a dynamic and flexible tool, being
inclusive of economic sectors, supporting transition from“brown”3 to “green”, and covering economic activities within
an entire economic system.
The basic principles adopted by the Project Catalogue include
taking China’s realities into consideration, supporting projects
with marked environmental benefits, being simple and clear,keeping continuous adjustment and maintaining compatibility
with international practices.
In general, the Taxonomy and the Project Catalogue both
describe their guiding principles in details, including the
purposes, basis and environmental objectives while theIndustry Catalogue describes less.

Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy | Climate Bonds Initiative3

UsersThe Taxonomy aims to create investment need for long-termand sustainable opportunities and encourage corporates todisclose whether their business complies with the Taxonomy,i.e., being environmentally sustainable. The proposed
Taxonomy regulation envisages two main mandatory users of
the Taxonomy:▪

▪

The Member States or the EU when adopting measures orsetting requirements on market actors concerning
financial products or corporate bonds that are marketed
as environmentally sustainable
Financial market participants who offer financial products
as environmentally sustainable investments or as
investments having similar characteristics.

A financial market participant refers to: an insurance
undertaking which makes available an insurance-based
investment product (IBIP)4; an alternative investment fundmanager (AIFM); an investment firm which provides portfolio
management; an institution for occupational retirement
provision (IORP) or a provider of a pension product; a manager
of a qualifying venture capital fund 5; a manager of a qualifyingsocial entrepreneurship fund6; a UCITS7 managementcompany. Banks are not included, but they can use theTaxonomy on a voluntary basis.

With climate change mitigation and adaptation as priority, tospecify economic activities with high carbon or potential toreduce carbon emissions in other sectors, the Taxonomy
identifies seven categories of economic activities: agriculture,
forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam andair conditioning supply; water, sewerage, waste andremediation; transportation and storage; information andcommunication; and construction and real estate activities.
Total carbon emissions of these activities account for 93.2% of
all economic activities included in the NACE system.
The Industry Catalogue and the Project Catalogue mention
little about the basis for classification. Similar to the Taxonomy,
the Industry Catalogue aims to cover all sectors in theeconomic system, but it does not adopt any system as aframework for sector classification. The Project Catalogue uses
the Industrial Classification and Codes for National Economic
Activities as a basis for classification.

Screening Criteria
The Taxonomy has set out principles to define economic
activities which help achieve the two environmental objectives,
i.e., climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Economic activities with substantial contribution to climatechange mitigation under the Taxonomy:

Financial products are portfolio management, UCITS funds,
alternative investment funds8, insurance-based Investment
Products (IBIP)9, pension products and pension schemes10.

▪

Specifically, institutional investors and asset managers making
investment products as environmentally sustainable would
need to explain whether, and how, they have applied theTaxonomy criteria. Investors could state that they are seeking
to invest in eligible activities under the Taxonomy or disclose
their preferred approach to determine whether an investment
is environmentally sustainable.

▪

Different from the Taxonomy, the Industry Catalogue aims toclarify the scope of the green industry in the entire economy,
guiding decision makers. In light of the Industry Catalogue andthe priorities in the sector/region, relevant authorities canestablish policies regarding investment, pricing, financial andtax to facilitate green industry development. In collaboration
with other policymakers, the NDRC will further develop
detailed catalogues to guide associations, corporates andsocial organisations on how to use the Industry Catalogue, andto improve its practicability.
The Project Catalogue is targeting green bond issuers. Alongwith policies/regulations such as the Announcement [2015]
No.39 of the People’s Bank of China, the Guiding Opinions ofChina Securities Regulatory Commission on Supporting theDevelopment of Green Bonds, the Project Catalogue provides
guidance on green bond issuance: issuers could use the Project
Catalogue to identify a green bond project to ensure its
environmental benefits.

Classification
The Taxonomy aims to cover all economic activities to theextent possible. It uses NACE as a framework to identify which
economic activities are environmentally sustainable.
Recognising the limitation of NACE (e.g. it does not adequately
address location and context specific considerations forclimate change adaptation, nor captures individual behaviouralchoices), the Taxonomy includes more activities than the NACE
does, and will further expand the scope in future.

▪

Activities that are already low carbon, including activities
with carbon sequestration or very low and zero emissions(e.g. zero emission transport, near to zero carbon
electricity generation and afforestation)
Activities that contribute to a transition to a net-zeroemissions economy in 2050 but are not currently close to
a net-zero carbon emissions level (e.g. electricity
generation with emissions below 100gCO 2e/kWh or cars
with emissions below 50gCO2e/km)
Activities that enable low carbon performance or enable
substantial emissions reductions (e.g. manufacturing ofwind turbines or installation of highly efficient boilers)Based on this, the Taxonomy further identifies 67 sub-activities
under the said seven categories and sets out relevant technicalscreening criteria.
Economic activities with substantial contribution to climatechange adaptation under the Taxonomy:▪
▪
▪

Activities that reduce material physical climate risks to theextent possible and on a best effort basis
Activities that do not adversely affect other climatechange adaptation efforts
Activities that generate results relating to climate change
adaptation and the results can be defined and measured
by proper metrics

Based on this, the Taxonomy identifies nine sub-activities
under the said seven categories and sets out technicalscreening criteria. In the next stage, the Taxonomy will focus
on further specifying climate change adaptation activities.
All economic activities with substantial contribution to climatechange mitigation/adaptation will be assessed to ensure they
do no significant harm to other environmental objectives. In
the long run, the Taxonomy will establish principles to define
economic activities with substantial contribution to otherenvironmental objectives than climate change.
The Industry Catalogue and the Project Catalogue do not
define industries or projects that meet environmental
objectives with a systemic approach (such as defining whether

Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy | Climate Bonds Initiative4

an industry or a project falls within the scope of “pollution
prevention and control”, and what is the objective for pollution
prevention and control). Instead, they directly put forward alist of eligible industries and projects. From the information
currently available, we are unable to determine the principles
and requirements for the inclusion of industries or projects in
the Industry Catalogue or the Project Catalogue.
The Taxonomy has established two levels of classification while
the Industry Catalogue and the Project Catalogue set three. At
the lowest level of classification (i.e., economic
activities/industries/projects), the three documents sharesimilar granularity. Similar to the Taxonomy which sets specificmetrics on economic activities, the Industry Catalogue and the
Project Catalogue put in place national policies/standards ascriteria for most of the industries/projects.
Regarding screening criteria, the Industry Catalogue and the
Project Catalogue differ most from the Taxonomy in carbon
emission thresholds. Based on the environmental objective of

climate change mitigation, the Taxonomy has set detailed
requirements/metrics on carbon emissions for sixty-sevenactivities (see Table 4 below). It also has qualitativerequirements about other environmental objectives, while theIndustry Catalogue and the Project Catalogue have no specificscreening criteria or metrics on emissions or climate change
mitigation. The Project Catalogue, instead, sets detailed
metrics about energy efficiency and pollution control.
The Taxonomy supports brown-to-green transition ofindustries and economic activities. However, it does notinclude those detrimental to the climate change mitigation
objective, such as coal-fired power projects (see Table 4 fordetails). Improving energy efficiency and reduce emissions ofthese activities may, indeed, bring short-term benefits; theTEG, nevertheless, considers that these activities areincompatible with the long-term objective of the Taxonomy.

Table 4 Screening Principles under the Taxonomy for Climate Change Mitigation
SectorScreening Principles under the Taxonomy for Climate Change Mitigation

Agriculture• Reduced emissions from ongoing land and animal management• Increased removals of carbon from the atmosphere and storage in above- and below-ground biomass throughongoing land and animal management, up to the limit of saturation levels• The agricultural activity is not being carried out on land that was previously deemed to be “of high carbon stock”

Forestry• Compliance with Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) requirements; the establishment of a GHG balance baseline
for above-ground carbon pools, based on growth-yield curves

Manufacturing• Activities that contribute to a transition to a net-zero emissions economy in 2050: no metric• Activities that enable low carbon performance or enable substantial emissions reductions: carbon emission
performance that reduces carbon emissions to best practice standards

Electricity, gas,steam and air
conditioning
supply• The threshold for life cycle of emissions (LCEs) is 100gCO 2e/kWh, which will be reduced every 5 years till net-zero
CO2e by 2050
• New energies such as solar, wind and existing hydropower in the EU currently meet the threshold, thus are
exempt from LCEs analysis• Coal-fired power: projects without carbon capture will not meet the required threshold. Coal-fired power withcarbon capture and sequestration may qualify in the short-term, but new coal plants generally have lifetime of 40
years or longer and they need to demonstrate that it will be able to reach net-zero emissions in 2050
• Natural gas-fired power: projects without carbon capture will not meet the required threshold. Gas-fired powerwith carbon capture and sequestration may qualify. However, this will be subject to the requirement that fugitive
emissions across the gas supply chain need to be measured• Electricity generation from other gaseous fuels (such as hydrogen or renewable gases): would be eligible subject
to meeting the emissions threshold

Water,
sewerage,waste and
remediation• Water collection, treatment and supply: quantitative energy efficiency (such as water supply of an average energy
consumption lower than 0.5kWh/m 3) or reduce energy consumption by 20% or more
• Other activities, such as the energetic utilisation of bio-gas gained through the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge
and bio-waste, or the recovery from waste: qualitative emission reduction metrics should be met

Transportation• Efficient, low- or zero emissions fleets; emission metrics need to be followed in terms of per vehicle km, perpassenger km or per tonne km• Fuel substitution to net-zero carbon fuels: net-zero carbon fuels such as advanced bio- and synthetic fuels should
be used for a dedicated purpose without being mixed with other fuels

ICT• Data centres: follow the Best Practice Guidelines for the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency 11• Data-driven solutions for GHG reductions: no metric need to be followed

Construction
and real
estateactivities

As a principle, the energy- and resource-efficiency should reach the top 15% at the local level. However, due to lackof data, existing EU policy instruments are temporarily adopted as proxies for thresholds and metrics
Exclusion of buildings related to fossil fuels activities• Construction of new buildings: new building should meet national requirements for NZEB and have a level of energy
performance equivalent to the EPC rating of B or above• Renovation of existing buildings: in compliance with the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) or
make relative improvements of 30% or more against baselines• Individual renovation measures, installation of renewables on-site and relevant professional activities should meetrequirements• Acquisition of buildings: buildings acquired should meet requirements (set out in the construction of new buildings
and renovation of existing buildings parts)

Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue, Green Industry Guiding Catalogue, and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy | Climate Bonds Initiative5

As screening principles, criteria and metrics differ among theIndustry Catalogue, the Project Catalogue and the Taxonomy,
the economic activities/industries/projects recognised are
different (see Table 5 below for the summary). Under theTaxonomy, economic activities need to be assessed against all
six environmental objectives, except that no environmental
objective other than climate change mitigation has been set
for ICT activities.
Further research will be conducted to compare detailed
screening criteria and metrics.
Notes:
3. Highly polluting and emission intensive industries.
4. Authorised by Article 8 of Directive 2009/138/EC.

Notes (continued):
5. Registered under Article 14 of the European Venture Funds regulation(EuVECA, EU 345/2013).
6. Registered under Article 15 of the European Social Entrepreneurship
Funds regulation (EuSEF, EU 346/2013).
7. Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities.
8. Defined in Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 2011/61/EU.
9. IBIP refers to an insurance-based investment product as defined in
Article 4 (2) of Regulation (EU) 1285/2014 of the European Parliament andof the Council, or insurance products offered to professional investors,
being of maturity or surrender value which is in whole or in part, directly or
indirectly linked to market fluctuation.
10. Defined in Article 6(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/2341
11. https://e3p.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/2019-best-practiceguidelines-eu-code-conduct-data-centre-energy-efficiency

Table 5 Comparing the Industry Catalogue, the Project Catalogue and the Taxonomy in Terms of Scope and Environmental Objectives
Sector

Scope

Environmental Objectives

Industry Catalogue vs Taxonomy

Project Catalogue vs Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Project Catalogue

The Industry Catalogue has a broader
scope and is more detailed

The Taxonomy has a broader scopeand is more detailed

All six
environmental
objectives

Resource conservation andrecycling, ecologicalprotection and climatechange adaption

Manufacturing

The Industry Catalogue has a broader
scope

The Project Catalogue has a broader
scope and is more detailed. The
Project Catalogue includes “cleancoal” while the Taxonomy excludes
fossil fuels

All six
environmental
objectives

Energy saving, pollution
prevention and control,
resource conservation andrecycling, cleantransportation

Electricity, gas,steam and air
conditioning
supplyThe Taxonomy excludes co-fired power
without carbon capture, natural gasfired power without carbon capture,and nuclear energy; while the Industry
Catalogue includes these industries

The Taxonomy excludes co-fired
power without carbon capture,
natural gas-fired power withoutcarbon capture, and nuclear energy;
while the Project Catalogue includes
these projects

All six
environmental
objectives

Pollution prevention andcontrol, resource
conservation and recycling,clean energy
Pollution prevention andcontrol, resource
conservation and recycling,ecological protection andclimate change adaption

Agriculture andforestry

Water, sewerage,
waste and
remediation

Mostly the same

Mostly the same

All six
environmental
objectives

Transportation

Mostly the same but the Industry
Catalogue excludes passenger railtransport

Mostly the same

All six
environmental
objectives

Clean transportation

ICT

The Industry Catalogue is specifically
about energy and transportation while
the Taxonomy is more general

The Project Catalogue is specifically
about energy and transportation
while the Taxonomy is more general

Climate change
mitigation

Energy saving, cleantransportation, clean
energy, ecologicalprotection and climatechange adaption

Construction andreal estate
activities

Mostly the same but the Taxonomy
Mostly the same but the Taxonomy
excludes buildings related to fossil
excludes buildings related to fossil fuels
fuels

All six
environmental
objectives

Energy saving, resource
conservation and recycling

For more information, please contact:
Lily Dai lily@climatebonds.net Wenhong Xie wenhong.xie@climatebonds.net

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