EU Taxonomy

The EU defines six environmental objectives associated with the EU Taxonomy

• Climate change mitigation
• Climate change adaptation
• The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
• The transition to a circular economy
• Pollution prevention and control
• The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

Substantial contribution and do no significant harm

In order for an activity to be considered as sustainable according to the Taxonomy, it must contribute substantially to at least one of the six environmental objectives above, defined by technical screening criteria. In addition, the activity must “do no significant harm” (DNSH) towards the remaining five objectives and comply with minimum social safeguards (UN Guiding Principles including ILO core conventions and OECD guidelines). NRC Group has so far considered the environmental objective related to climate change mitigation. One highly important DNSH criteria for NRC Group is to meet the minimum 70% recycling rate for business activities.

The EU Taxonomy reporting requirements

In Norway, the Taxonomy framework entered into force on 1 January 2023 and applies to large listed companies with over 500 employees.

NRC Group is reporting the following EU Taxonomy disclosures for 2023:

• The share of Taxonomy-eligible economic activities in relation to total activities
• The share of Taxonomy-aligned economic activities in relation to total activities
• The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as defined in the Taxonomy related to turnover (revenue), operational expenses (OpEx) and investments (CapEx)
• Qualitative information relating to how the disclosures were calculated (see appendix).

Eligible activities for NRC Group activities

Of the Group’s activities in 2023, 98% are defined as eligible under the EU Taxonomy in terms of revenue. The most relevant eligible activities for NRC Group include infrastructure for rail transport and infrastructure enabling low-carbon road transport and public transport. The latter includes activities related to light rail and metro. Of the Group’s activities in 2023, 98% are defined as eligible under the EU Taxonomy in terms of revenue. The most relevant eligible activities for NRC Group include infrastructure for rail transport and infrastructure enabling low-carbon road transport and public transport. The latter includes activities
related to light rail and metro. Most of these eligible activities meet the technical screening criteria, the do no significant harm criteria and the other requirements to be classified as Taxonomy-aligned.

As more activities have been defined in the EU Taxonomy during 2023, now also most of our activities related to the environmental and the civil construction business are considered eligible. However, most of these activities are currently not reported as aligned. The disclosed figures have not been audited. A full description of the calculation methodology is included in the appendix

Aligned activities for NRC Group activities

Aligned activities for NRC Group activities Of the Group’s activities in 2023, 72% are defined as aligned under the EU Taxonomy in terms of revenue. On an overall level, the eligible activities that are not aligned relate to some of our maintenance work in Finland, where we cannot ensure a high enough recycling rate. Non-electrified rail, civil construction business and demolition work constitutes the remaining non-aligned activities. The disclosed figures have not been audited. A full description of the calculation methodology is included in the appendix. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is presented in a table below. Complete KPI templates according to EU’s Annex II to the Disclosures Delegated Act are disclosed as a download below.