Title page
Contents
Summary 4
01. Introduction 6
1.1. The importance of the circular economy for economic prosperity and resilience 7
1.2. The circular economy finance gap 7
1.3. Unlocking investment via sustainable finance taxonomies 8
1.4. About this paper 10
02. The EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy: A case study 11
2.1. Overview of EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy development 11
2.2. Substantial contribution to the circular economy transition 16
2.3. 'Do no significant harm' to the circular economy 21
2.4. Sectoral example: Built environment 22
03. Integrating the circular economy: Key considerations 26
3.1. Architecture 26
3.2. Usability 33
3.3. Enabling environment 37
04. Conclusion and recommendations 40
Glossary 43
About the authors 45
Acknowledgments 46
Table 1. TSC for textiles and garments 20
Table 2. Draft recommendations for contribution to circular economy in the construction of new buildings and renovation of existing buildings 24
Table 3. Summary of current limitations of circular economy DNSH 31
Figure 1. Sustainable finance taxonomies in place, in development or in discussion 9
Figure 2. Foundations for EU Sustainable Finance Framework 12
Figure 3. The circular economy as an enabler for other environmental objectives and reducing pressures 14
Figure 4. Structure of the circular economy objective and the four basic conditions 15
Figure 5. Suitability of approaches across all types of substantial contribution to a circular economy 19
Figure 6/Figure 7. Proposed extension to the EU Taxonomy 33
Boxes
Box 1. EU Taxonomy objectives 14
Box 2. Definition of the circular economy as adopted in the EU Taxonomy 16
Box 3. Headline ambition and targets for the EU Taxonomy circular economy objective 17
Box 4. Categories to define substantial contribution to the circular economy 18
Box 5. DNSH criteria for a circular economy 21
Box 6. Circular reporting challenges 34
Box 7. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Environmental Sustainability Reporting Standard 5 37