EU Taxonomy: Project for Training and Implementation of Life Cycle Assessments for the Evaluation of Green Investments

The European Commission set up the Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance to develop a classification system for sustainable activities- the so-called EU taxonomy. This expert group published its report on the EU taxonomy in March 2020, which contains recommendations on its design and guidelines for companies on reporting. For each technology, the TEG report specifies the requirements that must be met to be classified as a green investment. An essential element is the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) as evidence of compliance with defined greenhouse gas reduction criteria. The PCF is determined in the form of a life cycle assessment (LCA).

In the course of this, the FfE, together with EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, assessed three technologies. The PCF of a gas cogeneration plant, a fast-charging station for electric vehicles, and a gas pipeline were determined. The results were discussed with the help of sensitivity and contribution analyses.

In addition to evaluating compliance with sustainability criteria, the focus was on training EnBW employees to conduct a life cycle assessment and report the results using the Green House Gas Protocol. For this purpose, a training concept was designed that included an introduction to the basics of LCA, the discussion of various databases and assessment tools, the preparation of sensitivity and contribution analyses, as well as the interpretation of the results of an LCA. In regular digital meetings, the employees of EnBW discussed what was learned and attained a deeper understanding.