- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2023
Implementing the Do No Significant Harm principle in public funding
The European Commission supported the integration of the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle into public funding programmes. Through EU technical assistance, the beneficiary authorities received guidance and tools to ensure that investments align with environmental objectives, fostering sustainable growth and compliance with EU green transition priorities.
Context
The European Green Deal and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) require that public investments support the EU’s climate and environmental objectives and do no significant harm. In legal terms, the DNSH obligation for Recovery and Resilience Plans is set in the RRF Regulation (EU) 2021/241, which defines DNSH by reference to Article 17 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852 and is operationalised through Commission DNSH technical guidance.
The beneficiary authorities faced challenges in applying DNSH criteria consistently across funding programmes. This project addresses these gaps by providing practical methodologies and capacity-building to embed DNSH in financial decision-making, supporting the EU’s green and digital transformation agenda.
Support delivered
The European Commission provided expert guidance and training to the beneficiary authorities. Activities included developing DNSH assessment tools, conducting good practice exchanges, and drafting implementation and reporting guidelines. The support was delivered between October 2023 and December 2025 in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, ensuring that public funding programmes comply with EU sustainability standards, as defined in the RRF, and avoid harm to climate and environmental objectives. This project is funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the European Commission.
Results achieved
The project delivered a practical DNSH framework, enabling the beneficiary authorities to assess environmental impacts systematically. Key outcomes include enhanced transparency in funding decisions, strengthened institutional capacity through trainings, targeted ad-hoc support, and validated guidelines through pilot applications. These results contribute to greener public investments and long-term sustainability, supporting the EU’s climate neutrality target for 2050.
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: