On Friday 7 March, the European Commission published its technical guidelines on the application of the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ (DNSH) principle under the Social Climate Fund Regulation, to help national authorities implement their social climate plans.
The document details the various ways of complying with the DNSH principle and is accompanied by sectoral annexes targeting the activities and assets eligible under the Social Climate Fund, “with the objective of providing upfront clarity for its application”.
Only activities or assets that are deemed to have little detrimental impact on one of the six environmental objectives defined in the taxonomy regulation (mitigation, adaptation, circular economy, protection of biodiversity, etc.) can be deemed compliant with the DNSH principle.
In particular, the document explains how Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) and sustainability and climate proofing can be used to demonstrate compliance with the DNSH principle.
These guidelines are based on feedback from a call for evidence that took place between 30 April and 28 May 2024 and the targeted consultation on the draft guidelines that ran from 18 June to 23 August 2024.
See the European Commission’s guidelines: https://aeur.eu/f/fuk ; the annexes: https://aeur.eu/f/fua ; and the general guidelines on social climate plans: https://aeur.eu/f/fub (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)