GreenGov
GREEN finance and Do No Significant Harm principle implementation for a better regional GOVernance
Project summary
GREENGOV helps European Regions and local authorities to implement the EU Taxonomy and improve the governance of their financing schemes.
What is the EU Taxonomy?
The EU Taxonomy is at the core of the European sustainable finance strategy and defines which economic activities are considered sustainable, in order to direct investments towards them. According to the Taxonomy, an economic activity can be considered sustainable if it substantially contributes to one of its 6 environmental objectives while respecting the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle in relation to all of them.
Although local authorities are not yet required to align their actions to the Taxonomy regulation, EU Structural Funds Managing Authorities must respect the DNSH as a horizontal principle in their 2021-2027 programs, to ensure the sustainability of the actions supported. In addition, considering the impact of their policies on their territories and citizens’ expectations for stronger action to combat climate change, some regional public authorities already wish to put climate commitment at the very heart of their policies.
The project
The project helps European regions and local authorities to better understand and implement the EU Taxonomy in their public policies. The partners work to design a common and robust process to adapt regional and local strategies to this new European framework, by developing a guide to support capacity building and awareness raising on green finance mechanisms among all the actors involved. This guidance will also be put into practice to explore green budgeting, using the tools of budgetary policymaking to help the partners redirect their investments towards sustainable priorities, develop regional green bonds frameworks and other innovative financial instruments to achieve environmental goals.
The project involves 11 partners and 1 associated policy authority and targets 9 policy instruments: four ERDF regional programs, a green finance strategy, an economic transition governance strategy, a development strategy, a regional climate strategy, a sustainable energy and climate action plan.
