This report has been commissioned by the Nordic Working Group for Environment and Economics (NME). The report has been prepared by Norion Consult.
This report examines how companies in the forestry and construction sectors in Norway, Sweden, and Finland have responded to the EU taxonomy regulation during its early implementation period. The analysis provides an analysis of the current situation in both sectors, highlighting key barriers and opportunities that companies face in aligning with the taxonomy. The findings highlights commonalities and differences between the two sectors, particularly in their approach to sustainability impacts, organizational changes, knowledge building, preparatory work, and cross-Nordic challenges and advantages. Neither of the sectors perceive taxonomy alignment as a competitive advantage yet.
The analysis is based on a literature review and interviews with selected companies in both sectors across the three countries. Since the EU Taxonomy Regulation still is in its infancy, companies and industries are learning and adopting step by step to align company practices and reporting standards to live up to the reporting criteria from the EU Commission. At this stage the experiences of the implementation the regulation are still limited which is also reflected in the report.
Members of the Nordic Working Group for Environment and Economy have provided comments and inputs to the report during the work. The authors of the report are responsible for the content as well as the assessments and recommendations, which do not necessarily reflect the views and the positions of the governments in the Nordic countries.
October 2024
Magnus Cederlöf
Chair of the Nordic Working Group for Environment and Economics