International Platform Sustainable Finance Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report

The International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) updated the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) in November 2024, expanding the analysis to include 96 activities across five environmental objectives. The CGT serves as a voluntary technical tool to enhance the interoperability of sustainable finance standards between the EU and China, potentially lowering trans-boundary costs for green investments. The report details a scenario-based methodology for mapping activities using the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) as a neutral code. While it identifies 76 climate mitigation activities and 20 non-climate activities with shared ground, it explicitly excludes 'Do No Significant Harm' (DNSH) criteria, minimum social safeguards, and climate change adaptation due to technical complexity and divergent regulatory approaches.

• The updated Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) identifies 96 activities that share common ground between the EU and China taxonomies regarding 'substantial contribution' criteria, consisting of 76 climate mitigation activities and 20 activities contributing to other environmental objectives.
• The CGT analysis covers five environmental objectives: climate change mitigation, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
• The report employs a six-scenario methodology to categorize the overlap between the two taxonomies: Scenario 1 for clear overlaps; Scenario 2 where EU criteria are more stringent/detailed; Scenario 3 where China criteria are more stringent/detailed; Scenario 4 for identifiable overlap; and Scenarios 5 and 6 for unclear overlap or obvious divergence.
• The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Rev. 4 was used as the neutral reference classification to map activities from both taxonomies, although the report notes that ISIC is sometimes insufficiently granular for emerging technologies like hydrogen or carbon capture.
• The CGT explicitly excludes 'Do No Significant Harm' (DNSH) criteria and minimum social safeguards from its current scope due to technical complexity and lack of uniformity between the jurisdictions.
• Climate change adaptation activities were excluded from the CGT because the EU uses process-based, context-dependent criteria while China maintains a 'white list' approach, making robust comparison challenging.
• The EU Taxonomy is a list of activities usable by any entity but has mandatory applications for EU Member States, certain financial market participants, and large/listed companies under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
• The China Taxonomy (Green Bond Endorsed Projects Catalogue 2021 Edition) is mandatory for all green bond issuers, including financial institutions, corporations, state-owned enterprises, and regulatory agencies.

APA

Climate Bonds Initiative (2024). International Platform Sustainable Finance Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/241113-common-ground-taxonomy-instruction-report_en.pdf

Chicago

Climate Bonds Initiative. International Platform Sustainable Finance Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report. 2024. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/241113-common-ground-taxonomy-instruction-report_en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Bonds Initiative |title=International Platform Sustainable Finance Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report |date=November 2024 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/241113-common-ground-taxonomy-instruction-report_en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatebondsinitiative2024international, author = {{Climate Bonds Initiative}}, title = {{International Platform Sustainable Finance Common Ground Taxonomy Instruction Report}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/241113-common-ground-taxonomy-instruction-report_en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }