Jun 22, 2021
Valmet Oyj’s statement June 22, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EET
On April 21, 2021, the European Commission published a package of measures for sustainable finance, which includes a proposal on delegated regulation for the sustainability criteria for economic activities. Formally the proposal was adopted on June 4, 2021. The delegated regulation would supplement the Taxonomy Regulation enacted in the summer of 2020.
The proposal includes criteria for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. The criteria will be complemented later with criteria for other environmental objectives of the taxonomy. The goal of sustainable finance and the proposals is to direct investments to technologies and companies making a substantial contribution to the environmental objectives and thus advance the climate neutrality of Europe by 2050.
Valmet supports the principal idea of sustainable finance, where the goal is to direct financing to sustainable economic activities. Climate actions require significant investments, and the finance sector plays a major role in enabling them.
However, Valmet sees that the European Commission’s proposal on the sustainable finance taxonomy delegated regulation, i.e. criteria for the classification of economic activities, should be rejected. According to the company, the Commission’s proposal is problematic in many respects. The main issues are:
It is Valmet’s view that creating the sustainability criteria is no more important than ensuring a market that operates transparently and according to fair principles. The European Union needs clear, technologically neutral and scientifically justified rules for decreasing emissions so that investments would properly start. Companies’ investments in product development also requires predictable guidelines.
The European Commission’s proposal, on the other hand, will lead to uncertainty on the market, the unnecessary rejection of good solutions that would decrease emissions, and unreasonable costs to companies. Valmet hopes that the Member States will take a bold stance and move to reject the proposal in the Council.
Attachments:
Valmet statement in full
Memo by Afry: Use of waste-based fuels in co-incineration in Finland – Potential impacts of EU Taxonomy on the fuel use
VALMET
Corporate Communications
For further information, please contact:
Carita Ollikainen, Director, Corporate Relations, Valmet, tel. +358 46 921 2437
Bertel Karlstedt, Business Line President, Pulp and Energy, Valmet, tel. +358 10 672 0000
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