Robin Wood and Others v. Commission

With the Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852, the European Union established the criteria for determining whether an economic activity qualifies as environmentally sustainable for the purposes of establishing the degree to which an investment is environmentally sustainable, with the aim of facilitating sustainable investment. Articles 10(3) and 11(3) of the Taxonomy Regulation require the Commission to adopt delegated acts establishing the technical screening criteria for determining first the conditions under which a specific economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or adaptation, and second whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to one or more environmental objectives. In its Delegated Regulation 2021/2139, the Commission classified forestry activities and forest bioenergy activities as sustainable. The applicants submitted a request for internal review of the Delegated Regulation pursuant to Article 10 of the Aarhus Regulation, which was rejected by the Commission. According to Robin Wood and six other applicants, the classification adopted by the Commission in the Delegated Regulation is unlawful, as it violates EU law – including the Taxonomy Regulation itself.