Classification of Sustainable Activities: EU Taxonomy and Scientific Literature

Abstract

In March 2020, the European Commission published the EU Taxonomy, a classification system of economic activities that can be considered environmentally sustainable. Motivated by this policy initiative, we propose a bibliometric analysis, based on the Web of Science database for the period January 1990–March 2020, regarding the extant scientific production related to the EU Taxonomy environmental objectives and macro-sectors. We find that a considerable number of scientific works—161,595 publications—have investigated Taxonomy-related areas, showing that the EU Taxonomy defined a working method, based on the cooperation among regulators, academics, and industry, representing a valuable example of evidence-based policy making. Furthermore, topic modelling analysis shows that extracted papers focused on improvements in production processes, innovation, and environmental performance. Thus, exploiting time and geographic patterns of the scientific publications, we perform a multivariate analysis to investigate its relationship with subsequent levels of pollution. Our evidence shows that, for the past, a higher level of EU Taxonomy-related publications is associated with a lower level of CO2 emissions, supporting the view that scientific production has a societal impact in terms of environmental sustainability. Accordingly, now that EU Taxonomy-related topics have been incorporated into policy measures, further positive environmental effects are expected from here on out.

Sustainable financial services: reflection and future perspectives

“…Sustainable marketing of financial services is concerned with the sustainable promotion of financial products. Various marketing terms are related to sustainable marketing (Gordon et al, 2011 ), including ethical marketing (Laczniak and Murphy, 1991 ), responsible marketing (Laczniak and Shultz, 2021 ), social marketing (Dann, 2010 ), green marketing (Lymperopoulos et al, 2012 ; Papadas et al, 2017 ), ecological marketing (Katrandjiev, 2016 ). All of these articles provide discussion about theoretical foundations and conceptual framework but not the practical or empirical aspects of sustainable marketing of financial services.…”

“…( 2020 ); Archuleta et al ( 2021 ); Dziawgo ( 2021 ); Gan et al ( 2021 ); Rabbani et al ( 2021 ) Risk management Lack of insurance product covering pandemic risk Insurance covering pandemic risk Hartwig et al ( 2020 ) Social finance Lack of product offerings and access Renewed interest on Islamic social finance Hassan, Muneeza and Sarea ( 2021 );Kuchler and Stroebel ( 2021 ); Service delivery Digital finance Digital revolution; Lack of access for financial services; Service deliver misaligned with sustainability agenda Internet-based Mobile-based Application system- based Artificial intelligence and machine learning application in financial services industry Agur et al ( 2020 ); Clements, ( 2022 ); Tay, ( 2022 ); Murinde et al ( 2022 ); Goodell et al . (2021) Marketing strategy Digital marketing Marketing strategies misaligned with sustainability agenda Envisioning a sustainable financial consumers New service marketplace Digital market reach Lozano( 2008 ); Aitken et al, ( 2019 ); Sheth ( 2021 ), Clements, ( 2022 ); Rosenbaum; Russell- Bennett, and Conteras- Ramirez ( 2022 ) Source: Summarized by the author from the referred articles …”

A Model for the Transition to the Circular Economy: The “R” Framework

“…Thanks to these six objectives, it is possible to label an economic activity as sustainable or not, from the environmental point of view (Lucarelli et al, 2020). The conditions that an economic activity must meet to qualify as environmentally sustainable are:…”

When innovation rests on sustainability and food safety: Some experiences from Italian agri-food start-ups

“…The inclusion of the transition to the CE among the objectives set by the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities marks the intention to disseminate circular production practices among European companies (Bassi and Dias, 2020;Lucarelli et al, 2020;Giacomelli, 2022). In the absence of mandatory rules (Schneider et al, 2018), sources of soft law, best practices and guidelines, together with the crosshairs issued by the various international and national organizations (European Commission, 2015UN, 2015), highly contribute to CE progression (De Cabo et al, 2019).…”