Comprehensive global comparative analysis of green and sustainable taxonomies

Resumo

This article provides a systematic comparative analysis of green and sustainable finance taxonomies (GSTs) implemented globally as of July 2025. Examining 49 national and three regional frameworks, we identify core structural features (including environmental objectives, sectoral coverage, classification methodologies, governance arrangements, and legal status), while tracing how national taxonomies reflect specific sustainability contexts and development priorities. Our analysis reveals substantial convergence around climate mitigation and adaptation objectives, yet significant divergence in how jurisdictions operationalize biodiversity protection, social safeguards, and transition pathways. We argue that while country-specific taxonomies remain necessary to address local needs and policy agendas, interoperability has emerged as a critical requirement for preventing greenwashing, generating comparable information, and enabling cross-border sustainable finance flows. The paper advances three main contributions: first, it offers the most comprehensive empirical mapping of global taxonomy development to date, including frameworks often excluded from comparative studies; second, it develops an analytical framework for understanding taxonomy design choices across jurisdictions with varying institutional capacities; third, it draws on recent developments, including COP30 outcomes and the launch of the Principles for Taxonomy Interoperability, to assess emerging governance innovations. We conclude that taxonomies function not merely as classification tools but as institutional mechanisms reshaping decision-making frameworks across financial systems. However, their effectiveness depends less on technical design choices than on governance quality, policy integration, and international cooperation. Without sustained attention to these dimensions, taxonomy proliferation risks fragmenting capital markets rather than channeling investment toward sustainability objectives at the required scale.