The Central Bank of Madagascar has published for consultation the first version of a national green taxonomy covering 108 activities across sectors including agriculture, energy, forestry, transport, buildings, water, waste, mining, tourism and disaster risk management. Developed with the economy and environment ministries and technical support from the International Finance Corporation, the voluntary framework would give banks, microfinance institutions, investors, insurers, companies and public authorities common criteria for identifying and financing environmentally sustainable activities. It is not a prudential standard or supervisory instrument. Activities would be assessed against six environmental objectives and must demonstrate a substantial contribution, compliance with the principle of doing no significant harm and minimum social safeguards. The draft distinguishes green, enabling and transition activities, provides an indicative exclusion list that includes oil and gas exploration and extraction, and scales evidence, due diligence, data and verification expectations according to an operation’s size, complexity and risk. Consultation questions focus on sector coverage, technical thresholds, available evidence, proportionality, transition activities, reporting capacity and whether public green or sustainable labels should require use of the taxonomy and independent verification. A pilot program with several financial institutions is running alongside the consultation. The Central Bank plans to review consultation and pilot findings in October and publish the final taxonomy in November 2026.

Original source