As part of its efforts to reduce administrative burdens and simplify legislation, the European Commission has launched a series of ‘implementation dialogues’. With these dialogues, the Commission can engage directly with stakeholders, to get feedback on how to achieve policy objectives in a way that minimises compliance burdens, and identify ways to improve, facilitate and accelerate the implementation and simplification of EU policies.
On 10 July 2025, Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union, hosted her first implementation dialogue. The topic of discussion was the EU taxonomy – a key element of the EU’s sustainable finance framework. During this (virtual) event, Commissioner Albuquerque exchanged views with 28 participants – representatives from EU‑level business federations, the financial sector, industry, climate‑focused NGOs, employers and trades unions, academia, etc.
Participants widely welcomed the Commission’s simplification efforts, particularly the omnibus proposals, a number of which have been adopted since the beginning of the current mandate. In this context, both the participants and the Commissioner underlined the need to strike a careful balance between simplifying the technical screening criteria and ensuring they remain robust and meaningful.
Many participants also supported the idea of expanding the EU taxonomy, particularly for sectors such as energy efficiency, industrial processes, networks and other activities contributing to a more circular economy. Adding these activities to the taxonomy would allow for them to be recognised and financed as sustainable.
A recurring theme in the discussions was the need to simplify and clarify the taxonomy’s technical screening criteria, especially the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) criteria. Representatives from the real economy also voiced concerns about the complexity and administrative burden of the current reporting obligations under the taxonomy, welcoming recent simplifications but calling for more flexibility. SMEs representatives called for simple and proportionate tools to facilitate their access to transition funding.
Participants also raised several sectoral concerns, notably from the chemicals, real estate, and digital industries. Issues included overly stringent criteria, limited applicability to existing assets and infrastructure, and a lack of alignment with operational realities in these sectors. Participants also highlighted the lack of accessible, comparable, and high‑quality data, which they viewed as a major barrier to effective taxonomy implementation. Finally, participants underlined the need to ensure that the taxonomy remains compatible with international standards.
Commissioner Albuquerque stressed that the Commission is aware of the challenges faced by stakeholders, particularly when it comes to complexity and data requirements, and she acknowledged the calls for inclusion of new sectors. She also addressed the burden on SMEs, emphasising the need for a proportionate approach, and pointed to ongoing efforts to improve data comparability. The Commissioner concluded by stating that “competitiveness and sustainability are two sides of the same coin”.
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