Eligibility asks whether an economic activity is described in the Taxonomy delegated acts. Alignment asks whether that activity satisfies the Article 3 conditions for environmental sustainability.
and alignment are sequential but different conclusions. Eligibility asks whether an activity is described in a Taxonomy delegated act; it does not measure environmental performance. Alignment requires the activity to satisfy Article 3: substantial contribution to at least one environmental objective, no significant harm to the others, minimum safeguards, and the applicable technical screening criteria. For Article 8 reports prepared under the rules applicable from 1 January 2026, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/73 also permits specified materiality-based omissions from eligibility and alignment assessment, with separate reporting of the omitted amounts.
Comparison matrix
Eligibility vs alignment: what each conclusion proves
Use the rows below to separate the scoping question from the sustainability-quality test that supports Article 8 disclosures.
An eligible economic activity is one described in the delegated acts adopted under the Taxonomy Regulation. Eligibility is a scope and reporting classification; it does not by itself prove that the activity is environmentally sustainable.
Second framework
Taxonomy alignment
A activity must meet the Article 3 conditions, including substantial contribution, DNSH, minimum safeguards, and the applicable technical screening criteria.
Eligibility vs alignment: what each conclusion proves
Lists the conditions for an economic activity to qualify as environmentally sustainable.
Criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities
Do not present eligibility as proof of sustainability. Treat it as the entry point for KPI reporting and the starting population for alignment testing.
Explains that eligible activities are defined by delegated-act descriptions while aligned activities are defined by compliance with Article 3 criteria.
Undertakings subject to Article 8 use the KPI rules for their undertaking type. Non-financial undertakings report turnover, CapEx, and OpEx; asset managers, credit institutions, investment firms, and insurance or reinsurance undertakings use the applicable asset, revenue, or activity KPIs in the Disclosures Delegated Act.
Explains the first eligibility-reporting phase for financial and non-financial undertakings.
Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy non-eligible
Before including an amount as , the reporting undertaking must establish that the relevant activity satisfies the four Article 3 conditions. Financial undertaking KPIs may also depend on the Taxonomy information, use of proceeds, and reporting status of counterparties under the applicable methodology.
Article 8 links the disclosure duty to undertakings subject to Articles 19a or 29a of the Accounting Directive.
environmentally sustainable economic activity
Assign an owner to the eligibility mapping and an owner to the alignment evidence. Record both conclusions against the same activity identifier so reviewers can trace the two decisions.
An activity is eligible when it is described in a Taxonomy delegated act covering one of the six environmental objectives. Under the rules applicable from 1 January 2026, a non-financial undertaking may omit assessing activities whose cumulative turnover, CapEx, or material OpEx is below 10% of the denominator of the corresponding KPI. The omitted amount must be reported separately as non-material; the threshold does not make an activity eligible, aligned, or non-eligible.
Amends the Disclosures Delegated Act from 1 January 2026 by adding KPI-specific 10% assessment omissions and separate reporting of non-material amounts.
Article 8 FAQ explains when an activity is Taxonomy-eligible.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
Alignment is tested only for an eligible activity. The activity must meet the delegated-act substantial-contribution and DNSH criteria, comply with the Article 18 minimum safeguards, and satisfy the applicable technical screening criteria.
Article 3 sets the four-part alignment conditions.
environmentally sustainable economic activity
For each KPI, record whether the activity was assessed or omitted under the materiality option. Keep the threshold calculation and the separately reported non-material amount with the reporting-year file.
Eligibility reporting for a non-financial undertaking uses turnover, CapEx, and OpEx KPIs and the Disclosures Delegated Act templates. Amounts omitted under the 2026 materiality rules are reported separately as non-material rather than being classified as non-eligible. If OpEx is not material to the business model, the undertaking may omit assessing all OpEx activities only if it discloses the denominator and explains why OpEx is not material.
Article 8 FAQ supports the eligibility KPI reporting obligations.
Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy non-eligible
Alignment reporting obligations require additional evidence for substantial contribution, DNSH assessment, and minimum-safeguards compliance for each eligible activity reported as aligned, plus separate KPI tables for the aligned share.
Disclosures Delegated Act specifies the aligned KPI templates and evidence structure.
Taxonomy-aligned economic activities
Keep one evidence set for each obligation type: a delegated-act activity mapping for eligibility and a technical-screening-criteria, DNSH, and safeguards assessment for alignment, so neither set is confused with the other in disclosures.
Article 8 requires disclosure of how and to what extent activities are associated with environmentally sustainable activities; the Disclosures Delegated Act supplies the eligibility and alignment presentation rules.
Eligibility evidence should show the activity description used, the delegated act and objective consulted, and the mapping from revenue, CapEx, OpEx, asset, or exposure data to the reported KPI line.
Explains that eligibility is assessed against delegated-act activity descriptions and KPI reporting uses financial-statement principles where relevant.
not dependent on the accounting standards
Alignment evidence should add proof for substantial contribution, DNSH, minimum safeguards, and the applicable technical screening criteria for the activity and objective.
Eligibility was the first Article 8 reporting step: from January 2022, in-scope undertakings reported eligible and non-eligible activities or assets and qualitative information for the previous reporting period. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/73 applies from 1 January 2026 and permits undertakings to use the rules in force on 31 December 2025 for a financial year beginning during 2025.
Sets out the January 2022 eligibility reporting start and explains that first-year reporting did not require alignment assessment.
As of January 2022
Alignment reporting followed later: non-financial undertakings reported aligned climate activities from 2023, and financial undertakings began the main eligible and aligned KPI reporting from 2024. The current report must use the delegated acts, criteria, templates, and transition option applicable to its financial year.
Identifies the 2023 and 2024 alignment reporting milestones for large non-financial undertakings and large financial institutions.
large financial institutions
For historic or current reports, identify the financial year, undertaking type, environmental objective, KPI, and elected 2025 transition approach before deciding which assessment and template rules applied.
Article 8 disclosures sit in the management report of an undertaking subject to Articles 19a or 29a of the Accounting Directive. Where CSRD assurance requirements apply, the assurance opinion covers compliance with the sustainability-reporting requirements, including Article 8 reporting; national transposition determines the applicable statutory process.
Articles 19a, 29a, and 34 establish the current sustainability-reporting and assurance framework that Article 8 Taxonomy disclosures enter through the management report.
The same reporting-level assurance scope covers alignment disclosures. That does not replace activity-level support for technical screening criteria, DNSH, minimum safeguards, and KPI calculations, or any independent verification expressly required by a particular screening criterion.
Explains that CSRD assurance rules apply to Article 8 disclosures to the same extent as other sustainability reporting once the CSRD requirements apply.
Keep the legal-scope analysis and assurance engagement separate from the activity evidence. Article 8 defines what is disclosed; the Accounting Directive and national law determine the reporting and assurance route.
Eligibility analysis produces activity descriptions and sector mappings that directly support the first step of alignment assessment and can be reused as the base layer for alignment evidence without repeating the delegated-act matching work.
Article 8 FAQ supports using eligibility as the foundation for the alignment assessment.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
Alignment evidence, such as technical screening criteria assessments, DNSH reviews, and safeguards checks, cannot be substituted for eligibility analysis even if alignment has been demonstrated, because the reporting templates require both KPIs to be disclosed separately.
Disclosures Delegated Act templates require both eligible and aligned KPIs to be reported separately.
Taxonomy-aligned economic activities
Build the eligibility map first and use it as input to the alignment assessment; do not skip the eligibility step when alignment evidence is already available, as both disclosures are independently required.
Use the eligibility label only after mapping an activity to a delegated-act description and tying it to the relevant KPI denominator and reporting boundary.
Grounds the conditions for environmental sustainability.
qualify as environmentally sustainable
In public copy, write 'eligible' and 'aligned' as separate conclusions. If an activity is eligible but lacks proof for one alignment condition, call it eligible but not aligned.
Lists the conditions for an economic activity to qualify as environmentally sustainable.
Criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities
Operational implication
Do not present eligibility as proof of sustainability. Treat it as the entry point for KPI reporting and the starting population for alignment testing.
Explains that eligible activities are defined by delegated-act descriptions while aligned activities are defined by compliance with Article 3 criteria.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
Who must act
Taxonomy eligibility
Undertakings subject to Article 8 use the KPI rules for their undertaking type. Non-financial undertakings report turnover, CapEx, and OpEx; asset managers, credit institutions, investment firms, and insurance or reinsurance undertakings use the applicable asset, revenue, or activity KPIs in the Disclosures Delegated Act.
Explains the first eligibility-reporting phase for financial and non-financial undertakings.
Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy non-eligible
Taxonomy alignment
Before including an amount as , the reporting undertaking must establish that the relevant activity satisfies the four Article 3 conditions. Financial undertaking KPIs may also depend on the Taxonomy information, use of proceeds, and reporting status of counterparties under the applicable methodology.
Article 8 links the disclosure duty to undertakings subject to Articles 19a or 29a of the Accounting Directive.
environmentally sustainable economic activity
Operational implication
Assign an owner to the eligibility mapping and an owner to the alignment evidence. Record both conclusions against the same activity identifier so reviewers can trace the two decisions.
Delegated Act specifies turnover, CapEx, and OpEx KPI templates for both eligible and aligned reporting.
Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy-aligned economic activities
Trigger or threshold
Taxonomy eligibility
An activity is eligible when it is described in a Taxonomy delegated act covering one of the six environmental objectives. Under the rules applicable from 1 January 2026, a non-financial undertaking may omit assessing activities whose cumulative turnover, CapEx, or material OpEx is below 10% of the denominator of the corresponding KPI. The omitted amount must be reported separately as non-material; the threshold does not make an activity eligible, aligned, or non-eligible.
Amends the Disclosures Delegated Act from 1 January 2026 by adding KPI-specific 10% assessment omissions and separate reporting of non-material amounts.
Article 8 FAQ explains when an activity is Taxonomy-eligible.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
Taxonomy alignment
Alignment is tested only for an eligible activity. The activity must meet the delegated-act substantial-contribution and DNSH criteria, comply with the Article 18 minimum safeguards, and satisfy the applicable technical screening criteria.
Article 3 sets the four-part alignment conditions.
environmentally sustainable economic activity
Operational implication
For each KPI, record whether the activity was assessed or omitted under the materiality option. Keep the threshold calculation and the separately reported non-material amount with the reporting-year file.
Commission Notice clarifies the two-step eligibility-then-alignment sequence.
taxonomy-eligible
Core obligations
Taxonomy eligibility
Eligibility reporting for a non-financial undertaking uses turnover, CapEx, and OpEx KPIs and the Disclosures Delegated Act templates. Amounts omitted under the 2026 materiality rules are reported separately as non-material rather than being classified as non-eligible. If OpEx is not material to the business model, the undertaking may omit assessing all OpEx activities only if it discloses the denominator and explains why OpEx is not material.
Article 8 FAQ supports the eligibility KPI reporting obligations.
Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy non-eligible
Taxonomy alignment
Alignment reporting obligations require additional evidence for substantial contribution, DNSH assessment, and minimum-safeguards compliance for each eligible activity reported as aligned, plus separate KPI tables for the aligned share.
Disclosures Delegated Act specifies the aligned KPI templates and evidence structure.
Taxonomy-aligned economic activities
Operational implication
Keep one evidence set for each obligation type: a delegated-act activity mapping for eligibility and a technical-screening-criteria, DNSH, and safeguards assessment for alignment, so neither set is confused with the other in disclosures.
Article 8 requires disclosure of how and to what extent activities are associated with environmentally sustainable activities; the Disclosures Delegated Act supplies the eligibility and alignment presentation rules.
Evidence needed
Taxonomy eligibility
Eligibility evidence should show the activity description used, the delegated act and objective consulted, and the mapping from revenue, CapEx, OpEx, asset, or exposure data to the reported KPI line.
Explains that eligibility is assessed against delegated-act activity descriptions and KPI reporting uses financial-statement principles where relevant.
not dependent on the accounting standards
Taxonomy alignment
Alignment evidence should add proof for substantial contribution, DNSH, minimum safeguards, and the applicable technical screening criteria for the activity and objective.
Describes the Taxonomy as performance thresholds covering substantial contribution, DNSH, and safeguards.
meet minimum safeguards
Reporting timing
Taxonomy eligibility
Eligibility was the first Article 8 reporting step: from January 2022, in-scope undertakings reported eligible and non-eligible activities or assets and qualitative information for the previous reporting period. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/73 applies from 1 January 2026 and permits undertakings to use the rules in force on 31 December 2025 for a financial year beginning during 2025.
Sets out the January 2022 eligibility reporting start and explains that first-year reporting did not require alignment assessment.
As of January 2022
Taxonomy alignment
Alignment reporting followed later: non-financial undertakings reported aligned climate activities from 2023, and financial undertakings began the main eligible and aligned KPI reporting from 2024. The current report must use the delegated acts, criteria, templates, and transition option applicable to its financial year.
Identifies the 2023 and 2024 alignment reporting milestones for large non-financial undertakings and large financial institutions.
large financial institutions
Operational implication
For historic or current reports, identify the financial year, undertaking type, environmental objective, KPI, and elected 2025 transition approach before deciding which assessment and template rules applied.
Explains that disclosures cover the previous annual reporting period.
previous annual reporting period
Enforcement and assurance
Taxonomy eligibility
Article 8 disclosures sit in the management report of an undertaking subject to Articles 19a or 29a of the Accounting Directive. Where CSRD assurance requirements apply, the assurance opinion covers compliance with the sustainability-reporting requirements, including Article 8 reporting; national transposition determines the applicable statutory process.
Articles 19a, 29a, and 34 establish the current sustainability-reporting and assurance framework that Article 8 Taxonomy disclosures enter through the management report.
Taxonomy alignment
The same reporting-level assurance scope covers alignment disclosures. That does not replace activity-level support for technical screening criteria, DNSH, minimum safeguards, and KPI calculations, or any independent verification expressly required by a particular screening criterion.
Explains that CSRD assurance rules apply to Article 8 disclosures to the same extent as other sustainability reporting once the CSRD requirements apply.
Operational implication
Keep the legal-scope analysis and assurance engagement separate from the activity evidence. Article 8 defines what is disclosed; the Accounting Directive and national law determine the reporting and assurance route.
Current consolidated Disclosures Delegated Act specifying Article 8 KPI methodology, presentation, and templates.
Overlap and reuse
Taxonomy eligibility
Eligibility analysis produces activity descriptions and sector mappings that directly support the first step of alignment assessment and can be reused as the base layer for alignment evidence without repeating the delegated-act matching work.
Article 8 FAQ supports using eligibility as the foundation for the alignment assessment.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
Taxonomy alignment
Alignment evidence, such as technical screening criteria assessments, DNSH reviews, and safeguards checks, cannot be substituted for eligibility analysis even if alignment has been demonstrated, because the reporting templates require both KPIs to be disclosed separately.
Disclosures Delegated Act templates require both eligible and aligned KPIs to be reported separately.
Taxonomy-aligned economic activities
Operational implication
Build the eligibility map first and use it as input to the alignment assessment; do not skip the eligibility step when alignment evidence is already available, as both disclosures are independently required.
Commission Notice explains the two-step sequence and the separate reporting requirements.
taxonomy-eligible
Practical decision rule
Taxonomy eligibility
Use the eligibility label only after mapping an activity to a delegated-act description and tying it to the relevant KPI denominator and reporting boundary.
Grounds the conditions for environmental sustainability.
qualify as environmentally sustainable
Operational implication
In public copy, write 'eligible' and 'aligned' as separate conclusions. If an activity is eligible but lacks proof for one alignment condition, call it eligible but not aligned.
Provides the core legal distinction between disclosure of activities associated with environmentally sustainable activities and the criteria for environmental sustainability.
Explains the definitions of Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy-aligned activities in Article 8 reporting guidance.
Taxonomy-eligible economic activities
1
Section 1
When should teams use this eligibility-vs-alignment explanation?
Use it before preparing Article 8 KPI tables, drafting sustainability-report language, reviewing green-finance claims, or deciding whether an activity can move from the eligible population into the aligned numerator.
Eligibility means the activity is covered by Taxonomy activity descriptions. It does not endorse the activity or establish alignment, which requires the separate environmental-sustainability test.
Use the eligibility review to map activities, reporting boundaries, and turnover, CapEx, OpEx, asset, investment, lending, or insurance data.
Use the alignment review to document technical screening criteria, substantial contribution, DNSH, and minimum safeguards.
Use separate labels for eligible, aligned, eligible but not aligned, and non-eligible activities in source records and public wording.
Commission FAQ explaining how financial and non-financial undertakings report Taxonomy-eligible activities and assets.
Supports the Article 8 eligibility reporting workflow and the distinction between eligibility and later alignment reporting.
Defines eligibility by reference to activities described in delegated acts.
Show 8 more
Explains the first eligibility-reporting phase for financial and non-financial undertakings.
Article 8 FAQ explains when an activity is Taxonomy-eligible.
Article 8 FAQ supports the eligibility KPI reporting obligations.
Explains that eligibility is assessed against delegated-act activity descriptions and KPI reporting uses financial-statement principles where relevant.
Sets out the January 2022 eligibility reporting start and explains that first-year reporting did not require alignment assessment.
Identifies the 2023 and 2024 alignment reporting milestones for large non-financial undertakings and large financial institutions.
Explains that disclosures cover the previous annual reporting period.
Article 8 FAQ supports using eligibility as the foundation for the alignment assessment.
Current amendment introducing materiality-based assessment omissions, separate non-material reporting, simplified templates, and transition treatment for financial years beginning in 2025.
Amends the Disclosures Delegated Act from 1 January 2026 by adding KPI-specific 10% assessment omissions and separate reporting of non-material amounts.
Sets the current non-financial undertaking materiality options for turnover, CapEx, and OpEx and requires separate reporting of omitted amounts.
Show 1 more
Applies from 1 January 2026 and permits use of the rules applicable on 31 December 2025 for financial years beginning during 2025.
Commission notice on Article 8 reporting of Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy-aligned economic activities and assets.
Explains that eligible activities are defined by delegated-act descriptions while aligned activities are defined by compliance with Article 3 criteria.
Grounds the delegated-act description test for eligibility.
Show 1 more
Explains the definitions of Taxonomy-eligible and Taxonomy-aligned activities in Article 8 reporting guidance.
Article 8 links the disclosure duty to undertakings subject to Articles 19a or 29a of the Accounting Directive.
Article 3 sets the four-part alignment conditions.
Article 8 requires disclosure of how and to what extent activities are associated with environmentally sustainable activities; the Disclosures Delegated Act supplies the eligibility and alignment presentation rules.
Explains that CSRD assurance rules apply to Article 8 disclosures to the same extent as other sustainability reporting once the CSRD requirements apply.
Articles 19a, 29a, and 34 establish the current sustainability-reporting and assurance framework that Article 8 Taxonomy disclosures enter through the management report.
Provides the core legal distinction between disclosure of activities associated with environmentally sustainable activities and the criteria for environmental sustainability.