ERA position on the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities

The EU Taxonomy is one of the current EU legislative proposals that have implications for the equipment rental industry in Europe. It is a European classification system for sustainable economic activities that aims to direct investments towards sustainable projects and activities. This system should prevent greenwashing and will guide investors when investing in projects and economic activities that have a substantial positive impact on the climate and the environment.

ERA has issued a position paper to push for the broadest possible inclusion of equipment rental in the upcoming delegated act and has requested a meeting with the relevant European Commission officials to discuss how rental could be taken into account in the EU Taxonomy.

The position paper is based on the fact that the rental model is, at its core, an inherently sustainable one. As described in the ‎ERA Manifesto on the environmental benefits of rental – https://erarental.org/publications/manifesto-on-the-environmental-benefits-of-rental/ – rental fulfils all the principles of the ‎circular economy.

It is vital for the EU transition to the circular economy to recognise the contribution of the ‎equipment rental industry by including the rental model in the EU Taxonomy ‎delegated acts.‎

In response to the Platform on Sustainable Finance Report with recommendations relating to the ‎technical screening criteria for objectives 3 to 6 of the Taxonomy Regulation, ERA calls on the European Commission to take into account, in ‎the remaining Taxonomy delegated acts, the following requests:‎

To enlarge the product coverage of the list of products covered in the Product as a service and ‎other circular use- and result-oriented service models, by including all non-road mobile ‎machinery and other frequently rented items;

To include equipment rental activities in the Taxonomy without further substantial contribution ‎criteria, as the applicability conditions of substantial contribution criteria proposed for ‎activity 2.13 in the Report would be unenforceable.‎

If you want to read or download the position paper, please visit the ERA website – https://erarental.org/publications/era-position-on-the-eu-taxonomy-for-sustainable-activities/ – or contact the ERA team at [email protected].