UK Green Taxonomy

Baroness Parminter Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Parminter]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to their commitment in Greening finance: A roadmap to sustainable investing, published on 1 October 2021, to consult on the “UK Green Taxonomy” in the first quarter of 2022, what plans they have to publish the draft taxonomy.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, HM Treasury (Baroness Penn) (Con)]

The UK green taxonomy is an important part of the Government’s ambitious programme of work on sustainable finance. However, it is critical that we learn from approaches being developed in other jurisdictions and take the time to get this right. The Government will continue to engage with scientific experts and market participants this year on how best to take forward work in this area.

[Baroness Parminter (LD)]

I thank the Minister for her reply. As she will know, many firms really support the transition to net zero, but this will not be achieved without clear direction from government. The Government’s independent green taxonomy advisory group told them last month that they had to send a “rapid market signal”, or we risked falling further behind Europe, which launched its taxonomy in 2020. So when will the Government publish their consultation on the green taxonomy? Will we get it by Christmas, or will the market just have to accept that we will fall further behind in the world and never become the financial leader on green issues that we should be?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness on the importance of progressing this work at pace but it is also important that we get it right. For the green taxonomy to have real value for the market, we need to make sure that it is user-friendly and operable, and that is what we are focused on. We continue to progress our work in this area and remain committed to producing the green taxonomy.