This report covers Finland, Norway and Sweden and focuses on the forestry and construction sectors. Both sectors are subject to the Taxonomy Regulation, they are present in the three Nordic countries and have a significant impact on the relevant environmental objectives: Climate mitigation and protection, and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. In total, 15 companies have been interviewed across both sectors. The report has been conducted in several steps, with an initial literature review, followed by interviews with each company and finally an analysis of the findings and results both across sectors and countries.
It is important to acknowledge that the analysis has certain limitations, as it includes only a selected group of companies from each sector and country. However, these companies provide a good indication of the broader market, given that most firms within each sector actively cooperates to learn from each other. Since the EU taxonomy was adopted recently, its implementation is still a work in progress, with ongoing developments in interpretations and methodologies. As such, this analysis offers a current indication of the market's stance, the ways in which the Taxonomy is being interpreted and implemented, and how companies are structuring their collaborations and are meeting reporting requirements.
3.1 Literature review
The first step was a literature study of available and relevant documents. The information gathering provided a strong and informed starting point for the mapping and analyses of how Nordic businesses relate to and operationalise the EU taxonomy in practice. The overall strategic and practical information and knowledge attained from the literature on how Nordic companies prepare and report according to the EU taxonomy has been analysed across the three countries, providing an indication and direction of how powerfully the EU taxonomy will be enforced in the Nordics. More in-depth research in annual reports, sustainability reports and company websites provided added strategic and practical knowledge on how each company are preparing and reporting according to the Taxonomy.
3.2 Interviews
The literature study has been supplemented with dedicated interviews with selected companies. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured approach. The interviews identified important additional qualitative and quantitative factors, as well as the most important barriers and opportunities. The interviews were designed to give the companies the opportunity to give their perspectives on the preparational work, resources needed, and barriers and challenges to align with the requirements. The interviews give an in-depth understanding of the companies work with the Taxonomy to date and how they have prepared for the new requirements.
The forestry and construction sectors are relevant examples of sectors in the Nordic countries that entail a relatively large number of companies subdue to the Taxonomy, as well as both sectors are important for all three economies. To make a clear distinction which companies to include in each sector, NACE-codes have been used, which is an EU standard used for industry classification. The technical screening criteria are defined for each activity separately and based on EU’s NACE industry classification system. The national codes derived from NACE have in turn been used to find the relevant companies in each country. The delimitations for which codes have been included for each sector are outlined in the sector specific sections below.
The aim has been to interview companies that are obliged to report on the EU taxonomy and fit within the chosen NACE codes. However, this has proven more challenging than expected, both in securing interviews with the selected companies and in identifying relevant companies (listed/non-listed as well size in terms of turnover and number of employees) that are obliged to report according to the Taxonomy Regulation.
3.2.1 Categorisation and delimitations for the construction sector
The construction sector is categorized as F41 according to the European industry classification standard NACE. The NACE codes that have been included in the identification of companies are:
To delimit the analysis, construction work that is not directly related to buildings and residential buildings (infrastructure and railway etc) are excluded, hence only companies related to the above codes have been interviewed and assessed. However, some of the companies operate in multiple sectors, including buildings, infrastructure and railway. In these cases, the focus has been on buildings, particularly residential buildings, and the associated work.
Three construction companies from Finland, Norway and Sweden respectively have been interviewed, which adds up to nine in total.