Environmental assessments and sustainable finance taxonomies – a riposte

Seven authors have responded to our paper asking whether the European Union (EU) Taxonomy will change the mindset over the contribution of Impact Assessment (IA) to sustainable development, delivering a range of opinions, based on a number of themes including: the politics of decision-making; the need to achieve positive impacts and strengthen carrying capacities; the transition to a green economy; the lack of clarity over the role of Strategic Environmental Assessment; and past historical experience. To each of these points, we provide a response highlighting why we think the potential for a change of mindset still exists. Ultimately, however, we recognise that a mindset change will not happen passively; it does need the IA community to become more political and engage with the financial community to make it clear what financial benefits their environmental knowledge can deliver.