EU taxonomy for sustainable business - a curse or a blessing?
The EU is aiming to become climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, large sums need to be invested and the economic system needs to be restructured. The Green Deal is intended to channel subsidies and investments into sustainable projects and companies. The EU taxonomy is a set of criteria defined by the EU that uniformly assesses the sustainability of economic activities. Together with the Disclosure Regulation, it is intended to steer financial flows and prevent greenwashing. This promotes compliance with the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In future, companies must state in their reports how their activities are linked to sustainable economic activities. The taxonomy helps to identify sustainable economic activities and promotes compliance with international environmental, social and labor standards.
The following specific environmental objectives are defined in the Taxonomy Regulation:
- Climate protection
- Adaptation to climate change
- Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
- Transition to a circular economy
- Prevention and reduction of environmental pollution
- Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems
According to the Taxonomy Regulation, an economic activity is only considered compliant if it makes a significant contribution to one of the six environmental objectives without conflicting with another.
One very important area is the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, which we discuss in more detail here. The taxonomy defines this area in great detail. As an example, we cite the regulations for the maximum water consumption of facilities in non-residential buildings:
(a) Taps on washbasins and sinks Faucets have a maximum water flow rate of 6 liters/min;
(b) Showers have a maximum water flow rate of 8 liters/min
(c) Toilets, including toilet facilities, sinks and cisterns, have a full flush volume of no more than 6 liters and an average flush volume of no more than 3.5 liters;
(d) Urinals use a maximum of 2 liters/bowl/hour. The full flush volume of flush urinals is a maximum of 1 liter.
The EU taxonomy sets high environmental standards for companies. This means that hotels in the EU are of course also affected by these requirements in terms of sustainability. While guests often pay attention to their water consumption at home, the situation is usually different on vacation. The average water consumption per guest per day in hotels is over 300 liters, which is more than twice as much as in a household. This not only consumes enormous amounts of valuable water and energy, but also generates large quantities of waste water.
In order to meet the EU taxonomy requirements for water efficiency, businesses must take measures to minimize water consumption and implement sustainable measures. Especially in the hotel industry, the requirements for a maximum water flow of 8 liters/minute for showers pose a major challenge, as guest satisfaction is a very high priority. Conventional eco shower heads or flow restrictors usually reduce water consumption to around 9 liters per minute, but this also means a reduction in showering comfort for guests due to the lower water jet. This often leads to negative feedback and complaints - in addition, these solutions do not meet the taxonomy requirements.
The Rabmer Group from Austria has been focusing on innovative environmental technologies for 40 years and offers an innovative solution for the hotel industry to meet or even exceed the strict requirements of the EU taxonomy in the area of water.
To ensure that there are no complaints from guests and that hotels still achieve their taxonomy targets while saving on operating costs, the Rabmer Group offers the water and energy saving system ecowaterjet by rabmer®. With this mini turbine, which is simply screwed between the shower fitting and the shower hose or directly in front of overhead showers, water consumption in the shower is reduced to up to 6 liters per minute without compromising shower comfort. In the washbasin, consumption can be reduced to 5 liters per minute or even less if necessary by using a flow limiter.
The water saving system ecowaterjet by rabmer® is already in use in over a hundred national and international hotels, such as Marriott Hotels, Falkensteiner Hotels, Dalata Hotels, Best Western Hotels, Valamar Hotels, HM Hotels, JS Hotels, Cap Rocat and also in Castel Son Claret or La Residencia - a Belmond Hotel on Mallorca. However, comfort for the guest is not sacrificed, as Thomas Moons, Area Managing Director for Spain and Portugal at Belmond Hotels, confirms: "For us at La Residencia, the collaboration with Rabmer and the ecowaterjet is a win-win situation. As a company, it fits perfectly with our sustainability efforts and some of our guests have even noticed an improved shower experience. I see no reason why a hotel should not consider this solution".
This example shows that the taxonomy requirements offer a win-win situation for the environment and the hotels. The innovative and sustainable products such as the ecowaterjet by rabmer® hotels can lower their operating costs for water heating, reduceCO2 emissions and protect the environment - and of course also meet the requirements of the EU taxonomy.
