Going green requires systemic change, affecting all stakeholders in the value-chain, and substantial innovations in technology, organisation, and business culture. Creative, and innovative CEOs have the difficult task to reset strategies, align, anticipate, and adapt the operating models towards sustainability and resilience.

As part of that effort, companies need a comprehensive sustainability framework to change their business models accordingly.

To achieve this, a common language and a clear definition of what is ‘sustainable’ is needed. This is why the action plan on financing sustainable growth called for the creation of a common classification system for sustainable economic activities, or an “EU taxonomy”.

The “EU Taxonomy Regulation”, requiring most European financial and non-financial companies to outline the environmental sustainability of their economic activities, could play an important role helping the EU scale up sustainable investment and implement the European green deal. The EU taxonomy would provide companies, investors and policymakers with appropriate definitions for which economic activities can be considered environmentally sustainable. In this way, it should create security for investors, protect private investors from greenwashing, help companies to become more climate-friendly, mitigate market fragmentation and help shift investments where they are most needed.