EU Taxonomy Regulation TAXO-Art.3: Criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities (Taxonomy Article 3)

Article 3 lays down the four-part test for an economic activity to qualify as environmentally sustainable. An economic activity is environmentally sustainable where it: (a) contributes substantially to one or more of the six environmental objectives set out in Article 9, in accordance with Articles 10 to 16 (substantial contribution); (b) does not significantly harm any of the environmental objectives set out in Article 9, in accordance with Article 17 (the DNSH test); (c) is carried out in compliance with the minimum safeguards laid down in Article 18 (the minimum safeguards on OECD MNE Guidelines + UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights + ILO Declaration + the International Bill of Human Rights); and (d) complies with the technical screening criteria established by the Commission Delegated Acts pursuant to Article 19 + Article 19a (the activity-by-activity TSC in the Climate Delegated Act + Environmental Delegated Act). The four-part test is ALWAYS applied per activity (NACE 4-digit + sub-activity granularity) - not per company. A company may have a mix of Taxonomy-aligned + Taxonomy-eligible-but-not-aligned + Taxonomy-non-eligible activities.