How to perform a robust climate risk and vulnerability assessment for EU taxonomy reporting?

The EU Taxonomy contains criteria for which corporate activities are to be considered sustainable or contribute to the achievement of individual environmental objectives. These environmental objectives also include adaptation to climate change. Companies subject to reporting requirements under the EU taxonomy are thereby required to demonstrate the extent to which their activities contribute to adaptation to climate change and are climate-resilient – both within the company and, in some cases, beyond it. To this end, the EU Taxonomy requires companies to conduct "robust climate risk and vulnerability assessments" as a basis to plan and implement adaptation solutions if necessary. The assessments are a prerequisite to demonstrate that the respective corporate activity is indeed "adapted to climate change" or climate-resilient. The EU Taxonomy Regulation contains extensive specifications on how to conduct these climate risk and vulnerability assessments.

This publication explains how a climate risk assessment can be implemented in the most legally secure and targeted manner possible within the framework of these requirements. In preparing these recommendations, the project team took into account the opinions of auditors on the interpretation of the legal text, among other voices.