The Government cited as reasons the complexity of the task; the importance of proceeding carefully; and its desire to review its approach to taxonomy development to maximise the effectiveness of its sustainable finance agenda. In response, the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG) has said that it will continue to advise the Government on developing and implementing a Green Taxonomy and that “the priority should be to ensure the design and implementation of such a complex policy instrument is done in a way that maximises its usability and usefulness for the market”.

The Government will provide a further update in early 2023 on how it will take forward legislation on the Green Taxonomy as part of its publication of its Green Finance Strategy. Under the Taxonomy Regulations, the government was required to set technical screening criteria by 1 January 2023. It will repeal that obligation.

The written statement is available on the government website and the statement from the GTAG is available on the Green Finance Institute website.