EU Taxonomy on Sustainable Financing: A new Paradigm for the Building Field?

As part of the effort at making a climate neutral economy, the EU has developed a sustainable finance taxonomy to steer capital flows towards sustainable activities, connecting financial and environmental elements of sustainability in a new way. Here we study how the taxonomy regulation, affects the field of construction. The research builds on institutional theory and empirical material from interviews and annual reports. This is done to establish a broad understanding of the field structure, and how the organisations in the field respond. The taxonomy presents new challenges and barriers. It is concluded that even though the purpose of the regulation is to motivate companies to document their sustainable activities and develop more sustainable businesses, the company responses have so far been diverse, to some extent reluctant and for some even evasive. The taxonomy will change notions of sustainability, but it is likely that it will enter a heterogeneous rather than a uniform direction.