"We welcome the fact that, with this Action Plan, the EU is committed to shaping the ground rules for the European financial sector in such a way as to contribute as much as possible to the future sustainability of the economy and society. We have already explained the importance of this in a position paper (12 December 2018)", writes Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank, in a letter to Minister Hoekstra of Finance.

"However, we question whether the contribution of the taxonomy, as proposed by the European Commission, is effective. The ultimate goal of all elements of the Action Plan, including the taxonomy, is to promote a real ‘re-orientation of capital’. In our view, the European Commission's current taxonomy proposal will not achieve this goal.

Under the current proposal, there will be an additional reporting obligation for actors who invest in sustainable activities, whilst actors who invest in unsustainable activities will not have to justify themselves. It cannot be the intention of the Sustainable Finance Action Plan to discourage those who contribute to solving the climate problem from continuing their work. We therefore ask you to consider the scope of application of this Regulation."