Recommendations of the Review Committee (April 2022)

The vast majority of respondents were happy with TICCS® and found it clear and useful. Most of the comments in the consultation report were granular, focusing on specific points of specific classifications, especially within the industrial pillar.

Pillar one (Business Risk)

• 86% of respondents to the 2022 TICCS® consultation considered this pillar to serve a clear purpose.

• The committee argued that there is a need to provide clarity and guidelines on how we classify partially contracted/merchant assets using thresholds (e.g. X% over the asset life), including how it is determined for the Scientific Infra & Private Assets indices. TICCS® is the type of taxonomy that defines classes but not how they should be weighted. However, a threshold can be found in the Implementation Guidelines.

Pillar two (Industrial Activity)

• The proportion of respondents to the 2022 TICCS® consultation who answered that the following Industrial Activity Superclasses served a clear purpose.

  • 86% IC10 – Power

  • 71% IC20 – Environmental Services

  • 86% IC30 – Social Infrastructure

  • 57% IC40 – Energy and Water Resources

  • 71% IC50 – Data

  • 71% IC60 – Transport

  • 57% IC70 – Renewables

  • 71% IC80 – Network Utilities

Definition for each subclass level asset was recommended by the Review Committee. 

Similar to the last consultation, it was suggested that certain activities be reorganised within their own water superclass. Scientific Infra & Private Assets considered this option but concluded that the current distinction between ‘network’ businesses (including Water Utilities) and standalone assets (e.g. Water treatment plants) is warranted and reflects the fundamental economic mechanisms at play in infrastructure.

Suggested new Asset Subclasses were considered by the Review Committee and also the fundamental economic criteria described above.

• To be newly included:

  • Bioethanol Fuel (IC402040) under Energy Resource Processing Companies (IC4020)

  • Cell Towers (IC501010) and Radio and Media Towers (IC501040) under Data Transmission (IC5010)

  • Thermal Storage (IC705030) under Other Renewable Technologies (IC7050)

  • Hydrogen-fired power generation (IC706010), Hydrogen Fuel Cells (IC706020) and Hydrogen storage (IC706030)

  • Smart Metering Companies (IC8070) and Smart Metering Network (IC807010)

• Suggestions not to be included:

  • Carbon management and storage assets

  • Industrial Gasses

  • Land Registries

  • Inland freight water transport

  • Inland passenger water transport

  • Sea and coastal freight water transport

  • Coastal passenger water transport

  • Aircraft leasing

  • Cold storage and logistics

  • Warehouse

  • Intermodal and transport hub/depot

  • Motorway service stations  

  • Composting of bio-waste

  • Landfill gas capture and utilitisation

• Suggestions that were already covered in TICCS® 2020:

  • Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP)

  • Anaerobic digestion of bio-waste

Pillar three (Geo-Economic)

• 86% of the consultation respondents found the third TICCS® pillar to serve a clear purpose.

• A minor update was made to the Geoeconomic Pillar definition with more examples to provide better clarity in response to the recommendations by the Review Committee. 

Pillar four (Corporate Structure)

• 86% of the consultation respondents found the third TICCS® pillar to serve a clear purpose.

• The title of the pillar has been updated to "corporate structure" to provide a clear idea of how project financed assets are being differentiated from those assets that are not.