EU taxonomy for sustainable activities: A source of decoupling or a pathway for greening the construction industry?

The European Action Plan on financing sustainable growth sets new legislative demands to meet the Paris agreement obligations and fulfil the ambition to make Europe CO2 neutral by 2050. An important element in this respect is the EU taxonomy. In this paper, we ask the question how a construction organisation implements strategies in relation to the EU taxonomy and analyse the strategic responses throughout the organisation. The study builds on qualitative data from a large Danish construction company. Through an institutional theory perspective, we explore how and with what effects the regulation is received and implemented at different levels of the organisation. The preliminary results show that the taxonomy is a source of decoupling and that different levels of the organisation respond differently to the regulation with focus shifting from ensuring compliance at a strategic level to a more practice-orientated approach on the project level. In conclusion, it is argued that the taxonomy as a policy tool to greening the construction industry is still underdeveloped and immature as displayed by the observed decoupling between policy instrument and project practice.