Skip to content
  • Trending Topics
    • Ukraine
    • Russia
    • Energy
    • Natural Gas
  • International
    • European Policy
    • Germany
    • USA
    • France
    • China
    • Russia
    • Poland
  • Digital World
    • Digitization
    • Digital Policy
    • Date
    • Data Protection
  • Technological Innovation
    • Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Platforms
    • Chips
    • Mobility
    • Car
  • Future of Energy
    • Energy
    • Energy Policy
    • Energy Prices
    • Energy Turnaround
    • Renewable Energy
  • Climate and Environment
    • Climate Protection
    • Climate Policy
    • Climate Targets
    • Green Deal
    • Sustainability
    • Emissions
    • Emissions Trading
  • Trade and Finance
    • Trade
    • Finance
    • Financial Policy
  • Categories
    • News
    • Feature
    • Opinion
    • Heads
    • Previous Issues
  • About us: Europe.Table
  • Imprint
  • Table.Media
    • Table.Media
    • Table.Media – das Entscheiderverzeichnis
    • Karriere
    • Impressum
    • Kontakt
    • Datenschutzerklärung
    • AGB
Table.Media Logo
  • Feature
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Heads
  • Previous Issues
Login Try it for free
Logout
DE
  • share on Facebook
  • share on Twitter>
  • share on LinkedIn
  • share on Xing
  • share by e-mail
  • share on Whatsapp
Europe.Table #115 / 01. February 2022

Social taxonomy + Lithium mining in Saxony + SPD and Russia

Logo Table.Media
Decision Brief
You are reading the preview edition.
To the complete edition.

To the German edition.
  • Social taxonomy: Is a new dispute looming?
  • Lithium mining in Saxony: silence in Zinnwald
  • European Court of Auditors calls for improvements in energy taxation
  • DSA: Confidence determines the start of the trilogue
  • EU Commission investigates complaint against DB Cargo
  • Inquiry report criticizes lockdown parties in Downing Street
  • Takeover of chip supplier Siltronic on the brink of failure
  • Martin Haeusling (Greens) on CAP: now it depends on the member states
  • SPD finds stance on Russia
Dear reader,

The discussion about the green EU taxonomy is in full swing, now the next taxonomy project could cause conflicts. The expert group “Platform on Sustainable Finance” will present its final report on the social categorization of economic activities this month. The EU Commission must then decide how to deal with the suggestions on the social taxonomy. The experts are expected to propose a dual categorization. “Sounds complicated? It is,” as Silke Wettach reports.

125,000 tons of lithium – a raw material that is urgently needed to achieve the climate targets of the Green Deal – are presumably located on the German side of the Zinnwald in the Ore Mountains. Mining is scheduled to begin in 2025. Unlike in Spain, in Saxony, there are hardly any protests from the population against the mining plans. Nevertheless, it is a project with hurdles, as Christian Domke-Seidel reports. And one about which those responsible are currently persistently silent.

German policy in the conflict with Russia has been sharply criticized for weeks, especially in the US but also in other European countries. The German government is seen as an unreliable fellow in the Western camp, above all its social democratic part. This image seems to have solidified to such an extent that it has so far gone unnoticed that this is no longer the case. SPD Chairman Lars Klingbeil has brought his party into line – and thus straightened out the West’s front against Vladimir Putin for the time being, as Till Hoppe analyzes.

Your
Sarah Schaefer
Image of Sarah Schaefer

Feature

Social taxonomy: Is a new dispute looming?

In February, a group of experts convened at the request of the EU Commission will present its final report on the social categorization of economic activities. The goal: to provide guidance for investors on sustainable financial products. Like the green taxonomy, the project is fraught with conflict.

The green taxonomy is followed by the social taxonomy: Although the paper of the expert group “Platform on Sustainable Finance” is a non-binding document, some industries fear that it could lead to preliminary decisions. The EU Commission must then decide how to deal with the suggestions.

The final report is likely to look quite similar to the interim report from last summer. In it, the group, with its total of 57 members from companies, associations, civil society, and regulatory authorities, had proposed a dual categorization. First, there is a vertical subdivision that would differentiate products according to their social harm or benefit. Accordingly, infrastructure such as water supply or education would be beneficial, while tobacco would not. On a horizontal scale, the company’s behavior would be assessed, regardless of its product, such as working conditions and attitude toward consumers.

Sounds complicated? It is, especially since there are no scientific criteria for all these criteria – unlike the green taxonomy. International standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and the EU’s Social Pillar could be used.

  • Climate & Environment
  • EU Commission
  • European policy
  • European policy
  • Finance
  • Finance
  • Human Rights
  • Climate & Environment
  • Taxonomy

Continue reading now

Get 30 days of free access to the Decision Brief to read these and more quality news every day.

Try it for free

Are you already a guest at the Europe.Table? Log in now

Follow us
  • follow
  • follow
  • About us: Europe.Table
  • Konferenzen & Veranstaltungen
  • Archiv
  • Table.Media
  • China.Table
  • Bildung.Table
  • 100Headlines.Table
  • Table.Heads – Das Entscheiderverzeichnis
  • Karriere
  • Kontakt
  • Impressum
  • Datenschutzerklärung
  • AGB
Table.Media Logo © 2022 Table Media GmbH
Be our guest at the Europe.Table. Try it for free now, no automatic renewal.
Try it for free