• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
CUBE announces its acquisition of The HubCUBE announces its acquisition of The HubCUBE announces its acquisition of The Hub

CUBE global

  • Products
        • RegPlatform product overviewOur enterprise product, providing regulatory intelligence for large, global financial institutions looking to tackle complex compliance.
        • RegAssure product overviewOur highly intuitive, seamless compliance product, that grows with your small or medium sized business.
        • View all products
  • Solutions
        • PrivacyGlobal governance for data privacy regulations, the world over
        • RecordsHolistic oversight of ever-growing regulations for records
        • CybersecurityAutomated workflows for up to date, relevant data on cyber
        • Technology riskEffective policies and controls to mitigate technology risk
        • Financial crime and AMLWatertight audit trails to show risk-based rationale
        • View all solutions
  • Resources
        • Resource hubLifting the lid on financial services, compliance, and regulation
        • Read

        • Case Studies
        • Blog posts
        • Reports
        • Brochures
        • Find

        • Compliance Corner
        • Compliance confessions
        • ESG Conference
        • CUBE’s regulation game
        • Listen

        • Videos
        • Webinars
        • Podcasts
  • Partners
        • Advisory and consulting partnersEnhance your regulatory compliance offering with the entire suite of CUBE regulatory data.
        • Integration partnersCompliance is complex enough without over-complicated integration procedures.
        • Technology partnersAdd value to existing customer applications with a unified window into regulatory intelligence.
        • Partners overview
  • About us
        • About usThe story of who we are, how we got here and why we’re exceptionally proud of what we do
        • TeamThe visionaries and leaders powering CUBE’s success
        • NewsThe latest news from CUBE
        • CareersOur movement to transform regulatory data into regulatory intelligence
        • ContactWant to know more? Get in touch
  • Request a demo
Customer login
Home » Resources » An overview of the Green Finance Institute’s UK Green Taxonomy

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

An overview of the Green Finance Institute’s UK Green Taxonomy


The Green Taxonomy is a classification system for investments based on sustainability measures. Overseen by the Green Finance Institute, this taxonomy is part of a larger Green Finance Roadmap in the UK.

It will be introduced in order to help meet specific goals around carbon dioxide emissions.

Background to the UK’s Green Finance Roadmap

In late 2021, the UK government introduced a proposed timeline to implement and streamline sustainable finance. The primary purpose of this roadmap is to help meet the green targets set at COP summits: the UK would reduce its CO2 emissions by 78% by 2035, and reach net zero by 2050. 

However, the green finance roadmap also aims to make the UK the best place in the world for investing in sustainability and environmental projects. As part of this roadmap, the Green Taxonomy will help investors be informed when making decisions, and provide a framework for green product standards.

Of course, one of the overarching themes with all of the UK’s green finance roadmap functions is to eliminate greenwashing. Similar to social taxonomy best practices, the classification system may provide comparable ratings for sustainable activities. So that investors can compare renewable energy projects with nuclear power or green bonds, for example. 

Green Taxonomy

The green taxonomy will be used as a classification system for investments to show how environmentally friendly they are. A panel of 18 experts, known as the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), was established in June 2021 in order to advise on the taxonomy. 

The GTAG decided on three factors for creating the green taxonomy to hit each sustainable development goal:

  1. Robust and evidence-based approach
  2. It must be accessible
  3. Built for the UK to support a global transition towards green investing 

While the finished framework has not yet been released, initial recommendations from the panel were published in October 2022. They suggested an ‘adopt and revise’ approach based on the original European Commission green taxonomy, which the UK could not use due to Brexit. 

Each part of the EU green taxonomy focuses on one of six sustainable economic activity objectives: 

  • Climate change mitigation
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Sustainable use and protection of water and marine life
  • Transition towards a circular economy
  • Pollution prevention and control
  • Protection and restoration of biodiversity

Creating the UK’s taxonomy with international comparability would allow it to be cost-effective, but with added benefits of the EU taxonomy. This is why GTAG suggests a ‘adopt and revise’ approach. 

Moreover, it’s been suggested that the primary use case for the UK’s green taxonomy will be as a corporate green investment reporting tool. This should work to reduce greenwashing across the UK’s investment scene.  

Who must comply?

The same groups are likely to have to comply with the UK’s green finance taxonomy as those regulated under the entire green finance roadmap. These include corporations, asset managers or owners and investment product creators. Already, climate-related disclosures have been implemented towards these groups. 

We expect the green taxonomy to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). As far as investors go, we expect a welcome response towards holding corporations accountable and increasing transparency around investments and economic activity. 

Financial institutions should expect increasing taxonomy regulation over the coming years, as well as an emphasis on prudential governance. As such, companies may think about budgeting for more resource allocation towards compliance.

Compliance with national and global organizations

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of new regulations and updates to compliance rules. Not to mention if your corporation operates internationally, and will be subject to different green taxonomies. Fortunately, CUBE has your back. 

Our RegTech utilizes AI technology to perform horizon scanning, without even needing your input. So you can find out what’s around the corner before it happens. Request a demo today.


Speak to the team

Related resources
View all articles
What is RegTech
Compliance Corner

What is RegTech?

What are NFTs? Find out about NFT regulation
Compliance Corner

What are NFTs and are they regulated?

What is hemp banking and what regulations are there
Compliance Corner

Hemp Banking

Find out all about the UK's Big Bang 2.0 financial regulation
Compliance Corner

UK government Big Bang 2.0


Want CUBE updates and latest industry news sent straight to your inbox?

Footer

Add CUBE logo here

  • Products
    • Partners
    • Solutions
  • Resource hub
    • Blogs
    • Reports
    • Brochures
    • Compliance Corner
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Behind CUBE
    • About us
    • Meet the team
    • Careers
    • News US
    • Contact us
  • The legal bits
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookie policy
    • Terms of use
    • Accessibility
Follow us:
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2023 CUBE Content Governance Global Limited

  • US
  • English