Comparison of two sustainability frameworks: The EU Taxonomy and the recast renewable energy directive (RED2)

This report is the result of a comparison between the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the EU Taxonomy. The activities are carried out by Jinke van Dam Consulting in the period from December 2020 to January 2021, on request by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). We would like to emphasize that the findings in this report are based on the Draft Delegated Regulations of the EU Taxonomy, which were published end of 2020 and are still under public consultation in the beginning of 2021. The criteria of the final Delegated Regulations will therefore likely be adapted, which will also influence the observations in this report about the similarities and differences between the two frameworks. At the writing of this report, the Implementing acts to establish the operational guidance on the evidence for demonstrating compliance with the sustainability criteria on forest biomass also still have to be published under the RED2. It is still unclear to what extent these criteria will be aligned with the requirements in the EU Taxonomy on forestrelated economic activities, or not. Despite these still expected changes in both frameworks, we conclude that the main findings in this report hold and remain valid and valuable to share with a broader group of stakeholders.