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FAQTaxonomyEU

EU Taxonomy Regulation Six environmental objectives

Article 9 names six environmental objectives. An aligned activity must substantially contribute to at least one and avoid significant harm to every other applicable objective.

This FAQ helps avoid mixing the objective list with activity-specific technical screening criteria, delegated-act details, or unsupported sustainability claims.

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Author
Sorena AI
Published
May 9, 2026
Updated
Jul 24, 2026
Questions
5

Structured answer sets in this page tree.

Primary sources
6

Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata
Sorena AI
Published May 9, 2026
Updated Jul 24, 2026
Overview

Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 sets . The list defines what the Taxonomy protects. Taxonomy-eligible and status depend on the activity descriptions and criteria in the delegated acts. Start with the economic activity, select the objective for , and test against the other objectives.

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5 of 5 questions
Question 1

What are the six environmental objectives under the EU Taxonomy?

The below use Article 9's legal wording. Articles 10 to 15 explain what means for each objective, while Article 17 defines significant harm.

An activity is aligned only if all four Article 3 conditions are met: to one or more objectives, no significant harm to the other objectives, compliance with minimum safeguards, and compliance with the applicable .

  • Climate change mitigation.
  • Climate change adaptation.
  • The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources.
  • The transition to a circular economy.
  • Pollution prevention and control.
  • The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
Citations
Question 2

What does each objective cover?

Articles 10 to 15 give each objective a distinct legal scope. Use those articles to understand the objective, then use the delegated act for the activity-specific threshold or condition.

  • Climate change mitigation covers avoiding or reducing greenhouse-gas emissions or increasing removals, including listed routes such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean mobility, carbon capture, and carbon sinks.
  • Climate change adaptation covers solutions that substantially reduce current or expected future climate risk to the activity, people, nature, or assets without increasing risk elsewhere. An activity can also enable adaptation by others.
  • Water and marine resources covers good status of water bodies, preventing deterioration, sustainable water use, wastewater management, marine protection, and related ecosystem services.
  • Circular economy covers resource efficiency, durability, reparability, reuse, recycling, waste prevention, and keeping products, materials, and resources in use.
  • Pollution prevention and control covers preventing or reducing pollutant releases to air, water, or land, improving environmental quality, managing chemicals, and cleaning pollution without creating new significant harm.
  • Biodiversity and ecosystems covers protecting, conserving, and restoring ecosystems, habitats, species, soils, forests, and ecosystem services.
Citations
Question 3

How should teams use the objectives in an assessment?

Identify the economic activity and match it to a delegated-act activity description. A NACE code can help locate a section, but the activity description controls eligibility. If no delegated act covers the activity for an objective, a general environmental benefit does not make it Taxonomy-eligible for that objective.

For every claimed aligned amount, record the substantial-contribution objective, the activity-specific criteria, results for the other objectives, minimum safeguards, and the reporting period. Article 17 requires life-cycle impacts to be considered, while the delegated act states the evidence and thresholds for the specific activity.

  • Define the activity boundary, operator, site or asset, reporting period, and financial amount.
  • Match the activity description and delegated-act section for each potentially eligible objective.
  • Test every substantial-contribution and criterion; do not offset a failed DNSH test with a strong contribution to another objective.
  • Assess minimum safeguards for the undertaking carrying out the activity.
  • Keep unresolved criteria and unsupported amounts outside the aligned numerator.
Citations
Question 4

Which delegated acts relate to the six objectives?

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139, the Climate Delegated Act, contains for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Regulation (EU) 2022/1214 added specified gas and nuclear activities, and Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 added further climate activities.

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2486 is the Environmental Delegated Act for water and marine resources, circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and biodiversity and ecosystems. Regulation (EU) 2026/73 later amended disclosure rules and simplified certain criteria. Use the consolidated text applicable to the reporting period.

  • Climate objectives: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation.
  • Non-climate objectives: water and marine resources, circular economy, pollution prevention and control, biodiversity and ecosystems.
  • can differ even where activity descriptions look similar across delegated acts.
  • Commission FAQ material is useful for interpretation, but the underlying regulation and delegated acts remain the sources to cite for criteria.
Citations
Question 5

What evidence should teams keep for the objective mapping?

Keep evidence that traces the activity to its substantial-contribution objective, delegated-act section, checks, safeguards conclusion, and reported amount. A general sustainability narrative cannot replace the activity-specific criteria.

If one activity substantially contributes to more than one objective, preserve the objective-level assessment but avoid double-counting the same turnover, CapEx, or OpEx in the summary KPI. The reporting templates and instructions applicable to the reporting period control presentation.

  • Activity description and boundary used for the assessment.
  • Article 9 objective or objectives selected for substantial-contribution review.
  • Delegated-act section and used.
  • evidence for the other Article 9 objectives.
  • Minimum-safeguards evidence or unresolved-safeguards note.
  • Disclosure or public-claim text that depends on the assessment.
Citations
Recommended next step

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Connect each activity to its objective, delegated-act section, substantial-contribution criteria, DNSH checks, minimum safeguards, reported amount, and evidence owner.

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Primary sources

References and citations

Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (Taxonomy Regulation)
eur-lex.europa.eu
Referenced sections
  • Articles 8 and 19 connect disclosures to aligned activities and require screening criteria that support verification and consider life-cycle impacts.
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