# Standardization Guidelines ## Why Standardization Matters EU Taxonomy disclosures are governed by a single framework, but in practice companies report in different ways. Companies may: * Use different reporting templates depending on the reporting year. * Report activities with inconsistent detail (activity codes, descriptions, or NACE codes). * Use varying terminology for the same KPIs (e.g., “revenues,” “net sales,” or “business volume” for *turnover*). Without harmonization, these variations would make it difficult to compare disclosures across firms or reconcile metrics within the dataset. Tracenable’s standardization rules bridge these gaps, while retaining traceability to the original company reports. *** ## Tracenable’s Standardization Guidelines ### Guideline 1: Reconciling Reporting Templates Three official EU Taxonomy templates are in use, and they capture eligibility and alignment differently: * **2020–2022 template** * Substantial contribution to environmental objectives is expressed as quantitative percentages at both activity and total level, for **both eligible and aligned activities**. * A dedicated "taxonomy-aligned proportion" column captures aligned (A1) values separately. * No materiality concept applies, and the `not_assessed_activities_non_material` field is absent. * **2023-2025 template** * Substantial contribution to environmental objectives, for **both eligible and aligned activities**, are expressed as qualitative flags at the activity level (e.g., “Yes (Y),” “No (N),” “Eligible (EL)”), with quantitative values only at the total level. * The standalone "aligned proportion" column is replaced by distinct rows for A1 (aligned) and A2 (eligible but not aligned). * No materiality concept applies, and the `not_assessed_activities_non_material` field is absent. * **2026 onward template** * Substantial contribution is reported exclusively for **aligned** activities, expressed as quantitative percentages at both activity and total level. * The materiality concept is introduced, making the `not_assessed_activities_non_material` field a mandatory disclosure. * The values of the eligibility criteria (or screening criteria) dimension is reduced from `A+B`, `A`, `A1`, `A2` and `B` to three values: `Aligned` (A1), `Eligible` (A) and `Denominator` (A+B). #### Tracenable’s Reconciliation Rules To ensure consistency across reporting years, Tracenable translates all disclosures, regardless of the template used, into the structure of the 2026 template. For example: * When companies report only qualitative flags for substantial contribution to environmental objectives in the 2023-2025 template, Tracenable standardizes these into equivalent percentages (e.g., if aligned turnover = 2% and the flag is “Yes” for CCM, the percentage contribution to CCM is recorded as 2%). * The A2 and B rows are removed in the 2026 template. As a result, an 2020-2022 template disclosure of "10% eligible" and "8% aligned proportion" is translated as follows: 8% is recorded under `Aligned` and 10% under `Eligible`, with the 2% not-aligned portion implicit within `Eligible`. * For companies reporting under the older templates, no materiality assessment was required and no `not_assessed_activities_non_material` value exists. In these cases, the field is marked as "not defined". This reconciliation ensures that all disclosures, old or new, fit into a single, consistent framework for analysis. *** ### Guideline 2: Harmonizing Percentage Contribution Formats Companies use two different ways to report percentages that describe how much of an activity contributes to an environmental objective. This can make disclosures look different even when they mean the same thing. * **Percentage-of-value format** – the percentage is expressed as a share of the relative KPI.\ \&#xNAN;*Example:* If relative turnover = 2% and the company reports “100% contribution to climate change mitigation,” this means the full 2% is linked to that objective. * **Direct-percentage format** – the percentage is reported directly as the final share of the relative KPI.\ \&#xNAN;*Example:* If relative turnover = 2% and the company reports “2% contribution to climate change mitigation,” this represents the same situation as above, just written differently. Tracenable standardizes both approaches into a single format so they can be compared consistently. In both examples above, the contribution is recorded as 2%. *** ### Guideline 3: Mapping Activities to Taxonomy-Defined Options Company-reported activities are not always expressed in official EU Taxonomy terms. Disclosures may include: * Activity numbers without objectives. * Descriptions that partially or loosely match Taxonomy activities. * NACE codes without clear activity descriptions. Tracenable applies structured mapping rules to reconcile these disclosures with the official activity list: * Perfect matches are mapped directly. * Semi-matches use NACE codes and context. * Ambiguous or unmatched cases are categorized under *Other activities* to preserve data without forcing an inaccurate mapping. This ensures that every activity is anchored to the Taxonomy framework, with uncertain cases handled transparently. *** ### Guideline 4: Unifying KPI Terminology Even for core KPIs (turnover, CAPEX, and OPEX) companies often use alternate terms that can create confusion. Tracenable maintains a mapping guide to ensure these terms are consistently standardized to the correct EU Taxonomy KPI. | EU Taxonomy KPI Names | Alternate KPI Names | | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Turnover** | Revenues, Sales, Gross sales , Gross rental income, Business volume | | **OPEX (Operating Expenditure)** | Business expenses, Investments in working capital, Investments in current assets | | **CAPEX (Capital Expenditure)** | Investments, Investments in fixed assets | This ensures that all disclosures roll into the official EU Taxonomy KPIs, regardless of the terminology used in reports. {% hint style="success" %} ### Takeaway Tracenable’s standardization rules make sure EU Taxonomy data speaks the same language across companies and years. Whether reports use old or new templates, vague activity descriptions, or alternative KPI terms, everything is harmonized into a single structure that’s easy to compare and analyze. {% endhint %} *** --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.tracenable.com/eu-taxonomy/data-collection-methodology/standardization-guidelines.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.