EU Taxonomy Regulation

A regulation that binds companies directly, but only those within the scope of the sustainability reporting directive, now those with more than 1,000 employees and more than EUR 450 million net turnover, plus financial market participants. Smaller companies meet it through financing: banks and the European Investment Bank use its technical screening criteria to score loans, so a borrower such as a municipal water company may find it in the loan terms.

Simplified rules applying from 1 January 2026 let non-financial companies skip activities below 10% of turnover, capital expenditure or operating expenditure.