Highlights

• First Mover in Africa: South Africa set a regional precedent by becoming the first country in Africa to officially adopt a sustainable finance taxonomy, positioning itself as one of the earliest adopters globally.

• Adopt and Adapt Approach: South Africa’s Taxonomy is closely aligned with the EU Taxonomy, retaining its six environmental objectives to ensure interoperability and facilitate access to international capital. However, economic activities were selected based on their relevance to South Africa’s sectoral emissions and climate adaptation priorities. Some activities from the EU framework were adopted directly, while others were removed or streamlined. Additional activities -such as ecotourism, wildlife management, nature-based solutions, and flood defence- were incorporated to reflect the country’s unique context.

  Furthermore, rather than applying EU-specific performance thresholds, South Africa adapted the technical screening criteria to local conditions. Where possible, thresholds were replaced with national standards or supplemented with “transitional” benchmarks drawn from South African regulation. This balance between ambition and feasibility enhances local usability while maintaining alignment with international frameworks, in line with the approach taken by Colombia’s Green Taxonomy.

• Participatory Development Process and Iterative Design: South Africa’s taxonomy development process was marked by continuous stakeholder engagement and testing. From the outset, awareness-raising sessions and targeted workshops brought together a diverse range of actors -including policymakers, financial institutions, companies, academia, and civil society- to contribute to the design.. A draft version was released for beta testing, during which over 30 institutions submitted more than 440 comments. This feedback was carefully reviewed by the technical working group and used to refine the taxonomy’s content and structure. The process not only strengthened the taxonomy’s relevance and accessibility, but also built widespread buy-in and laid a strong foundation for future updates, including the integration of transitional and social activities.