ASEAN Taxonomy Version 2 receives broad affirmation following stakeholder consultation

 Illustrative photo (Photo: asean.org)

Jakarta (VNA) - The ASEAN Taxonomy Board (ATB), representing ASEAN finance sectoral bodies, has announced the completion of targeted stakeholder consultation for Version 2 of the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (ASEAN Taxonomy).

This represents a significant milestone in validating the region’s journey towards sustainability and climate resilience and demonstrates the ATB’s commitment to providing crucial guidance to support environmentally responsible economic activities.

To advance the sustainable finance agenda in the region, the ATB released Version 2 of the ASEAN Taxonomy earlier this year, which featured the completed Foundation Framework, offering detailed methodologies for assessing various economic activities. It also provided Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) for the first focus sector, including electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector under the Plus Standard, as well as the Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) enabling sector.

Following this release, the ATB embarked on a targeted consultation with key stakeholders within the ASEAN region and beyond, engaging more than 1,300 stakeholders and 250 organisations through written feedback, roundtable sessions, and interviews. The consultation was instrumental in affirming and refining the ASEAN Taxonomy’s approach.

A key tenet of the ASEAN Taxonomy is to facilitate a just transition, which will continue to drive the development of the next phases of the Taxonomy. In this regard, stakeholders affirmed the Taxonomy’s use of a traffic light-based system as a helpful tool in supporting companies in its transition finance journey. 

Stakeholders welcomed the ASEAN Taxonomy as a credible, science-based tool and the Taxonomy’s emphasis on interoperability, in particular, the alignment of the Plus Standard’s Green Tier with the EU Taxonomy.

The ATB has also embarked on the development of the TSC for the next two focus sectors under the ASEAN Taxonomy, namely Transportation & Storage and Construction & Real Estate. TSC for the remaining focus sectors and enabling sectors will be rolled out over the next two years./.