The Union economy needs to rely on a sustainable and a safe, climate-neutral, climate-resilient, more resource-efficient and circular economy.9 The first initiative towards a EU sustainable financial framework dates back to 2016 when the Commission entrusted a High-Level Expert Group to develop an overarching and comprehensive Union strategy on sustainable finance.10 The report of the High-Level Expert Group published on 31 January 2018 called for the creation of a technically robust classification system at Union level to establish clarity on which activities qualify as ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’, starting with climate change mitigation.11 The EU legislator has, hence, implemented the EU sustainable financial framework. On 8 March 2018 the EU Commission published its action plan on financing sustainable growth, launching an ambitious and comprehensive strategy on sustainable finance. One of the objectives set out in that action plan is to reorient capital flows towards sustainable investment in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. The establishment of a unified classification system for sustainable activities is the most important and urgent action envisaged by the action plan.12 In such document, it has been underlined that only investments towards sustainable projects and activities will make possible to meet the EU’s climate and energy targets for 2030 and to reach the objectives of the European green deal13. Based on the 2018 EU Commission action plan specific rules have been adopted. In 2019 the EU enacted Regulation 2019/2088 on sustainability disclosures in the sector of financial services (the “Sustainability Disclosure Regulation”, SDR)14, and in 2020 Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (the “Taxonomy Regulation”) was adopted. Regulation 2019/2088 lays down harmonised rules for financial market participants and financial advisers on transparency with regard to the integration of sustainability risks and the consideration of adverse sustainability 9 Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment, and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 (Taxonomy Regulation). Such Regulation entered into force on 12 July 2020. 10 Regulation (EU) 2020/852, recital 5. See also R. Famà, cit., p. 64. 11 Regulation (EU) 2020/852, recital 5. 12 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Central Bank, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Action Plan: Financing Sustainable Growth, COM(2018) 97 final, 8 March 2018, esp. point 2.1. See also Regulation (EU) 2020/852, recital 6. 13 See EU Commission, Sustainable finance: Commission’s Action Plan for a greener and cleaner economy, Press Release, 8 March 2018, available at https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_18_1404. 14 Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector. 113 THE “DO NO SIGNIFICANT HARM” (DNSH) PRINCIPLE IN THE MULTILEVEL LEGAL SYSTEM
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