(12 February 2021) – The Commission has today presented its guidance on the implementation of ‘do no significant harm’ in the context of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
This guidance aims to support Member States in ensuring that all investments and reforms they propose to be financed by the RRF (€672.5 billion in loans and grants) do no significant harm to the EU’s environmental objectives, within the meaning set out in the Taxonomy Regulation.
It outlines key principles and a two-step methodology for the assessment of ‘do no significant harm’ in the context of the RRF as a way to facilitate the work of Member States in the preparation of their recovery and resilience plans. Respecting the ‘do no significant harm’ principle is a precondition for the endorsement of the plans by the Commission and the Council.
The ‘do no significant harm’ provisions are a crucial tool for this alongside the requirement that a minimum of 37% of expenditure on investments and reforms contained in each national recovery and resilience plan should support climate objectives.