The European Commission is no longer an active participant in the “continuation or expansion” of the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) or Multi-Jurisdiction Common Ground Taxonomy (M-CGT) exercises, Responsible Investor understands from EU sources.
The two frameworks serve as a multilateral mapping exercise of sustainable finance taxonomies instigated by the European Commission and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) joining later.
The bilateral EU-China CGT was launched in 2021 and maps 72 climate change mitigation activities that are aligned in both jurisdictions. The M-CGT, released in 2024, expands on the CGT to include the Singapore-Asia taxonomy, to cover a total of 110 common activities.
The Commission declined to comment on its decision to exit initiatives relating to the CGT and M-CGT, and the current governance structure of the frameworks. The PBOC and MAS did not respond to requests for comment.
Brussels sources close to the process stressed that the frameworks do not establish a harmonised international rulebook or create an equivalence regime, nor do they enable operational or regulatory interoperability between the taxonomies.
Despite this, the CGT has emerged as a popular touchstone within China’s labelled bond market. The China Society for Finance and Banking – a non-profit academic organisation – tracked a total of 578 “CGT-aligned” Chinese green bonds, 339 of which remain outstanding, as at May 2026.
They account for 26.9 percent of the total number of outstanding Chinese green bonds, with a valuation of RMB 374.803 billion ($55 billion; €48 billion).
Last year, ICBC Financial Leasing issued the first international green bond labelled as aligned to the CGT. Sources familiar with the deal noted that, while the CGT is not a formal mechanism in its own right, such deals “create actual use cases in the market for the CGT”.
An independent review of the deal confirmed alignment to activities in the CGT, “often citing the more stringent criteria among the taxonomies for common activities”, it said.
Despite the Commission’s departure from the CGT and M-CGT initiatives, it remains a member of the International Platform for Sustainable Finance (IPSF), under whose auspices the CGT and M-CGT were developed.
The IPSF was launched in 2019 by the EU as a policymaking forum for 22 jurisdictions including Australia, the UK, China and Singapore. Its secretariat and chair remains with the European Commission.