First defeat for the Commission: General Court partially annuls refusal to review taxonomy for shipping

01/10/26

The General Court handed down its judgment in Case T-449/24 this week, in which it partially annulled the European Commission’s refusal to review its technical screening criteria (“TSC”) in relation to international shipping.

The Commission makes TSC, as a delegated act under the Taxonomy Regulation, in order to define “sustainable” activities in EU law. The purpose of TSCs is to incentivise investors to divert money towards activities that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation.

Three European environmental NGOs (Dryade VZW, Fossielvrij, and Protect Our Winters Austria) challenged the Commission’s TSC, in relation to shipping and aviation. They argued that the TSC were legally flawed, rested on inadequate scientific analysis and imposed inadequate thresholds.

The General Court rejected some of the Applicants’ arguments. However, it found that the Commission had failed to set down an adequate threshold for methane slip emissions for international shipping and annulled the Commission’s refusal to review that part of the TSC.

This is the first time that a claim of this kind has succeeded. It represents a break with the Court’s previous ‘hands-off’ approach to this area.

The Judgment can be found here.