impacts in their processes and the provision of sustainability‐related information with respect to financial products (Article 1). It aims at setting a common language and a clear definition of what is meant for ‘sustainable’. In this respect, recital 17 of such Regulation clearly underlines the need to lay down a harmonised definition of ‘sustainable investment’ “which provides that the investee companies follow good governance practices and the precautionary principle of ‘do no significant harm’ is ensured, so that neither the environmental nor the social objective is significantly harmed.” A definition of “sustainable investment” is laid down in Article 2, No. 17 of Regulation (EU) 2019/208815, while Regulation (EU) 2020/852 defines ‘environmentally sustainable investment’ as “an investment in one or several economic activities that qualify as environmentally sustainable under this Regulation” (Article 2, No. 1). It is worth noting that the concepts of sustainable investment and the DNSH under SDR and Taxonomy Regulation do not coincide. In fact, the Taxonomy Regulation only covers certain sectors and includes specific technical screening criteria.16 The EU taxonomy regulation includes also other sources of law. Such regulation gives the Commission the power to adopt delegated and implementing acts to specify what competent authorities and market participants need to do to comply with the obligations laid down in the regulation.17 The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852.18 II. THE TAXONOMY REGULATION The Taxonomy Regulation tasks the Commission with establishing the actual list of environmentally sustainable activities by defining technical screening criteria for each environmental objective through delegated acts.19 15 According to such provision, ‘sustainable investment’ means “an investment in an economic activity that contributes to an environmental objective, as measured, for example, by key resource efficiency indicators on the use of energy, renewable energy, raw materials, water and land, on the production of waste, and greenhouse gas emissions, or on its impact on biodiversity and the circular economy, or an investment in an economic activity that contributes to a social objective, in particular an investment that contributes to tackling inequality or that fosters social cohesion, social integration and labour relations, or an investment in human capital or economically or socially disadvantaged communities, provided that such investments do not significantly harm any of those objectives and that the investee companies follow good governance practices, in particular with respect to sound management structures, employee relations, remuneration of staff and tax compliance.” 16 R. Famà, cit., p. 65. 17 See EU Commission, Implementing and delegated acts - Taxonomy Regulation, in https://finance.ec.europa. eu/regulation-and-supervision/financial-services-legislation/implementing-and-delegated-acts/taxonomyregulation_en (last accessed: 4 June 2025). 18 With regards to the DNSH see Article 2a, paragraph 3, Regulation (EU) 2019/2088. 19 See EU Commission, Implementing and delegated acts - Taxonomy Regulation, cit. 114 FRANCESCO GASPARI
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