“EU-listed companies falling short on sustainability, says study”

The companies from the Euro Stoxx 50 index are far from meeting the EU requirements. That is why scientists at the Philipps University of Marburg believe that great efforts are necessary.

What is sustainable, opinions differ. However, the European Commission is making progress on this issue with a set of rules, the so-called taxonomy. This was criticized after gas and nuclear energy were classified as transitional technologies and thus eligible for taxonomy in a political horse-trading between Germany and France. A study by the Philipps University of Marburg, which the FAZ has exclusively made available, is now causing disillusionment.

In it, Marc Steffen Rapp, Professor of Business Administration, and doctoral student Melanie Roser examined the 34 industrial and service companies in the Euro Stoxx 50, the leading index for the euro area. According to this, companies classify only 6 percent of their sales in 2022 as taxonomy-compliant. Overall, the companies reported sales of 2443 billion euros, of which, according to the study, 1502 billion euros were not taxonomy-capable. 941 billion euros were taxonomy-capable, but the majority of 785 billion euros were not yet taxonomy-compliant.