Environmental assessments and sustainable finance taxonomies – a riposte

ABSTRACT Seven authors have responded to our paper asking whether the European Union (EU) Taxonomy will change the mindset over the contribution of Impact Assessment (IA) to sustainable development, delivering a range of opinions, based on a number of themes including: the politics of decision-making; the need to achieve positive impacts and strengthen carrying capacities; the transition to a green economy; the lack of clarity over the role of Strategic Environmental Assessment; and past historical experience. To each of these points, we provide a response highlighting why we think the potential for a change of mindset still exists. Ultimately, however, we recognise that a mindset change will not happen passively; it does need the IA community to become more political and engage with the financial community to make it clear what financial benefits their environmental knowledge can deliver.