Meeting the climate target requires rapid realignment and mobilisation of finance at a massive scale. To avoid greenwashing, the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy needs to establish screening criteria, rooted in science and linked to the metrics of climate change, writes Peter Sweatman. Peter Sweatman is CEO of Climate Strategy & Partners, a consulting firm. Pioneering Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-78), “the father of the modern taxonomy”, said that an economist without knowledge of nature was like a physicist without knowledge of mathematics. A taxonomy is a scientific classification tool, and the EU Taxonomy provides the new rules for sustainable finance in Europe to assist investors, companies, issuers and project promoters transition towards a low-carbon, resilient and resource-efficient economy.