Presentation of Report: A comparison between the EU Green Taxonomy with South Africa’s Green Taxonomy

Presenters:

Caroline Wellemans, Head: European Commission Sustainable Finance Policy unit; European Commission Director-General of International Partnerships

Andreas Hoepner, Full Professor in Operational Risk, Banking and Finance at University College, Dublin; Member of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance

Theodor F Cojoianu, Associate Professor in Sustainable Finance, University of Edinburgh

Anh Vu, PhD candidate in Sustainable Finance, Queen’s University, Belfast

Caroline Wellemans, Head of the European Commission Sustainable Finance Policy unit and the European Commission’s Director-General of International Partnerships, said the high degree of “interoperability” between the EU and South African green finance taxonomies is welcome. EU-based investors have to complete financial reports using the EU taxonomy, stating how much of their portfolio, even outside the EU, is in line with the EU taxonomy and other financial rules, she said.

Andreas Hoepner, who is lead author of the report, Comparison of South Africa’s Green Taxonomy to the EU Taxonomy, said he and his team were “very impressed” with the South African taxonomy. Overall, there was 78% equivalence between the two taxonomies in terms of the level of ambition set out.

Overall the South African taxonomy showed an ambition level that was “stunning to see”, he said.

Wellemans said that the EU’s green taxonomy had been adopted “as legislation” throughout the 27-member economic bloc, and that time would tell how this would “inform the market”.

Hoepner said it was intended that the taxonomy would be updated every five years. “In the context of a green economy, it is very important to be dynamic. What is green enough today is not green enough in 2025.”

Theodor F Cojoianu, Associate Professor in Sustainable Finance at the University of Edinburgh, said that both green taxonomies required compliance with International Labour Organization requirements, but that South Africa’s taxonomy had gone “a bit further” in terms of its alignment with the country’s Bill of Rights, and its unemployment insurance and social equity legislation.

The full report is available on the South African National Treasury website.