Preparation for SFDR and EU Taxonomy

Project description 

Enactment of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations and the EU Taxonomy require our clients to report data related to environmental and social aspects. In 2021, TAUW helped a European infrastructure investor prepare for their sustainable finance disclosure obligations by collecting and/or estimating the data necessary for the upcoming annual reporting cycle for over 40 infrastructure investments, including: bridges, roads and tunnels. In addition, we determined which (part) of these investments are eligible under the Taxonomy and could potentially qualify as sustainable investments. As part of the collection of data CO₂ data needed to be collected. However, these data were not available from public sources or from the client. To estimate the greenhouse gas emissions we built a project-specific model using a combination of air emission models and life cycle analysis (LCA) tools.

How did the cooperation with the client go? 

During the project we cooperated with the investment team for the client and managers of the assets (sites) for collecting the necessary data. We had weekly progress meetings with the client to discuss the status and roadblocks.

The results

The client now has a benchmark to work with as well as a plan for SFDR data collection for 2022. In addition, we have identified those projects that will need to meet EU Taxonomy standards to qualify as sustainable, so the client can check and manage alignment with these standards in the coming period by identifying areas where they can improve the sustainability performance of their investments. The project has provided our client with insight into the sustainability of their investments and improvement opportunities.