EU Taxonomy and its Implementation at Vossloh

As part of the European Green Deal climate action initiative, the EU Commission aims to achieve the transition to a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy and climate neutrality by 2050. A central component of this is the EU Taxonomy Regulation, a classification system for defining environmentally sustainable economic activities. The Regulation – which went into effect July 12, 2020 – defines six environmental objectives:

1. Climate change mitigation
2. Climate change adaptation
3. The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
4. The transition to a circular economy
5. Pollution prevention and control
6. The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

According to the EU Taxonomy Regulation, economic activities are environmentally sustainable if they

• make a substantial contribution to achieving one or more of the six environmental objectives listed (Substantial Contribution),
• do no significant harm (DNSH) to the achievement of the five other EU environmental objectives, and
• comply with minimum requirements for occupational safety and human rights (minimum safeguards).

The regulations differentiate between taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned activities. If activities can be assigned to the taxonomy criteria, they are taxonomy-eligible, regardless of whether the technical screening criteria are met. Activities are taxonomy-aligned if the taxonomy-eligible activities also meet the criteria.

Pursuant to the EU Taxonomy Regulation, Vossloh reports below on the share of sales revenues, capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) of taxonomy-eligible and non-taxonomy-eligible economic activities.

Reporting for the 2024 financial year is carried out in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation in the version dated June 18, 2020, the technical screening criteria of the delegated act on the Taxonomy Regulation of June 4, 2021 for environmental objectives 1 (climate change mitigation) and 2 (climate change adaptation) and the delegated act of June 27, 2023. The latter adds further sectors and economic activities to the taxonomy that contribute significantly to environmental objectives 3 (the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources), 4 (the transition to a circular economy), 5 (pollution prevention and control) and 6 (the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems). When analyzing the activities, Vossloh focused primarily on their material contribution to the environmental goal of “climate change mitigation”. No activities were identified that have a significant impact on environmental objectives 2 to 6.

More detailed information can be found here, from page 105 to 115 of our Annual Report 2024.