Under its current scope, the Taxonomy requires reporting from three groups:The EU and its Member States.Financial organisations (whether banks, pension companies, or investment and insurance firms).Non-financial companies that are currently covered by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), i.e. large, listed public-interest companies with over 500 employees. and a net turnover of more than 40 million euros.However, the scope for which non-financial companies are required to report is set to change as the European Commission is set to replace the NFRD with a proposed Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).Under the CSRD, reporting will be required by all large companies, whether listed or not. CSRD defines a large company as one where two of the following three conditions apply: an average number of 250 employees, a balance sheet total of €20m; net turnover of €40m. Effectively, this will expand the number of companies that must adhere to the Taxonomy from around 11,000 to around 50,000.Almost all business activities that contribute to the environment are affected to some degree by the Taxonomy. Financial service companies, including pension providers, large companies, listed companies and other public-interest entities, the EU and its Member States.

The main activities and types of projects within the built environment sector covered by the Taxonomy are as follows: Acquisition and ownership of buildingsConstruction of new buildingsRenovation of existing buildingsIndividual measures, Installation, maintenance and repair of:energy efficiency equipment; charging stations for electric vehicles in buildings; instruments and devices for measuring, regulation and controlling energy performance of buildings; renewable energy technologies.

There are three core steps to complying with the Taxonomy:Determine which of your business activities are eligible.Assess activities against technical screening criteria.Calculate your alignment with the EU Taxonomy.

The EU Taxonomy allows for local regulations to be used for Taxonomy reporting. One Click LCA’s local compliance tools in the Netherlands, Sweden and France can be used for Taxonomy-compliant reporting.

The GHG Protocol groups emissions into different scopes according to who directly controls the emissions-releasing activity – the reporting company or another organisation. By contrast, an LCA is not concerned with who controls an activity, just that it happens.The standard emission factors basis is different: The GHG Protocol scopes 1 and 2 only take into account direct (combustion) emissions, whereas LCAs always use life-cycle based emission factors and consider all GHG gases.The GHG Protocol reports emissions based on the period in which they arose, often a calendar year or a quarter. Where future emissions are locked-in by sold products, they are accounted for in Scope 3 emissions in specific categories. An LCA looks at the entire life-cycle of a product or service: from first manufacture to end-of-life, as well as impacts beyond the system boundary. LCA results are grouped into life-cycle modules A to D.