Specialty Science, Technology, Society-Science and Technology Studies
Library of the School of Science

2023-03-02

2023

Strange Tracey

Aristotle Tympas
Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Vice-Chair, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Director, Interdepartmental Graduate Program 'Science, Technology, Society / Science and Technology Studies (STS)

“If you build it, will they come? Aspirational infrastructure and the case of the EU sustainable finance taxonomy”

English

“If you build it, will they come? Aspirational infrastructure and the case of the EU sustainable finance taxonomy”

The EU taxonomy is the central tool developed by the European Union to shift investment to
sustainable activities and thereby drive the transition to a net zero economy. Treating the taxonomy
as an infrastructure on which to base a new financial paradigm, this thesis focuses on the inception,
design, and implementation of the classification system, including a mapping of the different
communities of practice involved in its creation and use. It describes processes of construction of
the “common language” of what counts as green or sustainable, arguing that this language is not
neutral, but is negotiated in a process of political pressure and bargaining. In comparing the explicit
and implicit ambitions of the enterprise, I argue that the taxonomy is aspirational, bearing
unrealistic hopes for a painless transition to environmental sustainability. By failing to provide the
tools needed to realize its ambitions, the taxonomy requires an ecosystem of private expertise that
that will shape the interpretation and implementation of the EU’s energy and sustainability policies.

Science

Social, Political and Economic sciences

taxonomy, EU, sustainable, finance

No

42

Yes

67

42

File access is restricted only to the intranet of UoA.

https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/3284862