How the EU ensures its international cooperation is aligned with the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework

As per the OECD (2019)⁽¹⁾, an international cooperation that is effectively aligned with the Paris Agreement:

✅ Does not undermine the Paris Agreement but rather contributes to the required transformation.

✅ Catalyses countries’ transitions to low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways.

✅ Supports the short- and long-term processes under the Paris Agreement.

✅ Proactively responds to evidence and opportunities to address needs in developing countries.

Paris alignment within EU cooperation is ensured through:

• The stringent application of the objective of Art. 29 of the NDICI-GE, as no actions or measures can be supported which are incompatible with the recipient country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).
• The integration of climate considerations and contributions from the programming phase and across all sectors of EU action.
• The environmental and climate screening of all EU-supported actions, to determine if a given action is likely to have significant adverse impacts on the environment/climate or is at significant risk from climate change.
• A growing portfolio of dedicated actions supporting a transition to low-emission, climate-resilient pathways at country, sector or local level.

 Alignment with the Global Biodiversity Framework in the context of EU cooperation, addressing its 2050 goals and implementing its 2030 targets also implies implementing a `do no harm´ principle⁽²⁾, as well as:

• Protecting and restoring nature, through the continuous support to protected areas, and beyond these areas including through Team Europe approaches and flagship initiatives such as NaturAfrica.
• Ensuring the sustainable use and management of biodiversity, by valuing and enhancing nature’s contributions to people and the economy, through the integration of biodiversity objectives in the portfolio, promoting a do more good approach, and improving monitoring and evaluation on biodiversity projects.
• Supporting all parties to ensure adequate means of implementation, by mobilising resources from all sources (including international, domestic, public and private). This may be achieved through the adoption of ambitious targets in biodiversity financial commitments, mainstreaming biodiversity and the support to capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, notably in least developed countries and small island developing states (SIDS).

NDICI-Global Europe and IPA III regulations: green highlights

The NDICI-GE regulation states that ‘funding allocated in the context of the Instrument should be coherent with the long-term temperature goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. It should also be coherent with the objective to increase the ability to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and foster climate resilience. Particular attention should be given to actions that create co-benefits and meet multiple objectives, including for climate, biodiversity and the environment.’ (Recital 49).

The NDICI-GE regulation establishes that programmes and actions under the instrument shall mainstream the fight against climate change, the promotion of environmental protection and, where relevant, disaster risk reduction. These must also address interlinkages between the SDGs and promote integrated actions that can create co-benefits and meet multiple objectives in a coherent way (Article 8.8).

Programmes and actions shall be guided by the principle of ‘do no harm’ (Art. 8.8).

Article 29 of the NDICI-GE Regulation (on excluded activities) indicates that no actions or measures can be supported which:

✅ are incompatible with the recipient country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement; or

✅ promote investments in fossil fuels; or that,

✅ according to the environmental screening and impact assessment, cause significant adverse effects on the environment or the climate.

In selected, narrow cases, if ‘such actions or measures are strictly necessary to achieve the objectives of the Instrument’, such activities may be allowed but must then be ‘accompanied with appropriate measures to avoid, prevent or reduce and, if possible, off-set these effects, including support to phase out environmentally harmful fossil fuel subsidies’.

The IPA III Regulation⁽⁴⁾ defines an objective to reinforce environmental protection, to increase resilience to climate change, to accelerate the shift towards a low-carbon economy, to develop the digital economy and society and to strengthen sustainable connectivity in all its dimensions. Environmental sustainability and climate change mainstreaming, as well as the DNH principle are referred to in Recital 26.

Window 3 of the IPA III instrument represents the Green Agenda and sustainable connectivity, but a number of cross-cutting themes, such as climate change and environmental protection, are mainstreamed throughout the instrument and therefore have to be implemented under all five windows. In addition, horizontal provisions of the NDICI-GE Regulation are also applicable to IPA III assistance, such as in relation to environment and climate risk screening (Art. 25.5) and excluded activities (Art. 29)⁽⁵⁾.

The “do no harm” and "do no significant harm” principles

Do no harm (DNH) is mentioned as a principle under the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation (Art. 8) and is referred to as the ‘Green Oath’ in the European Green Deal, whereas the ‘do no significant harm’ (DNSH) principle was introduced in the context of EU sustainable finance by the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and first defined in Art. 17 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.

In practice, the Green Deal DNH oath is being operationalised in EU programmes largely under the form of the DNSH principle, in most cases by relying on the definitions in Art. 17 of the Taxonomy Regulation, and/or more granularly, by relying on the detailed DNSH thresholds (technical screening criteria) defined in the EU taxonomy delegated acts. The DNSH principle is already applicable to the Recovery and Resilience Facility and has to be taken into account for cohesion policy funds under the Common Provision Regulation (e.g. for the European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and Just Transition Fund). The InvestEU Fund uses ‘sustainability proofing guidance’ to operationalise the DNSH principle. In addition, the DNSH principle will be applicable in different forms to the Modernisation and Innovation Fund from 2025 and the Social Climate Fund from 2026. Finally, the provisionally agreed amendment of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union provides in Art. 33(2) that the next multi-annual financial framework will be subject to the DNSH principle, where feasible and appropriate.

The EC is currently preparing guidance on the application of the DNSH principle to the upcoming Social Climate Fund (SCF). Recognising the need to harmonise the application of the principle, the Commission plans to develop a DNSH single guidance applicable across EU instruments, where appropriate, subject to their respective legal provisions. However, experience shows that sector-specific criteria and thresholds defined for investments in the EU are not expected to be applicable unchanged to investments outside the EU, in different contexts and regulatory environments. Further work on DNH guidance applicable outside the boundaries of the EU will be aligned as far as possible to the general approach and principles of the above referred-to guidance.

In the context of EU international cooperation, basic elements of DNH are the compliance with the national environmental regulations, the mandatory appropriate environmental screening (Art. 25.5 of the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation) and compliance with Art. 29 of the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation on excluded activities. Whilst DNH criteria specific to international cooperation are defined, general definitions of what constitutes ‘significant harm’ can be found in Art. 17 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation, covering its six environmental objectives.

An activity is considered to do significant harm to:

• climate change mitigation if it leads to significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• climate change adaptation if it leads to an increased adverse impact of the current climate and the expected future climate, on the activity itself or on people, nature or assets (i.e. maladaptation);
• the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources if it is detrimental to the good status or the good ecological potential of bodies of water, including surface water and groundwater, or to the good environmental status of marine waters;
• the circular economy, including waste prevention and recycling, if (1) it leads to significant inefficiencies in the use of materials or in the direct or indirect use of natural resources, such as non-renewable energy sources, raw materials, water and land at one or more stages of the life cycle of products, including in terms of durability, repairability, upgradability, reusability or recyclability of products; (2) it leads to a significant increases in the generation, incineration or disposal of waste, with the exception of the incineration of non-recyclable hazardous waste; or (3) if the long-term disposal of waste may cause significant and long-term harm to the environment;
• pollution prevention and control if it leads to a significant increase in emissions of pollutants into air, water or land, as compared with the situation before the activity started;
• the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems if it is significantly detrimental to the good condition and resilience of ecosystems, or detrimental to the conservation status of habitats and species, including those of Union interest.

When assessing an economic activity against the criteria set out above, both the environmental impact of the activity itself and the environmental impact of the products and services provided by that activity throughout their life cycle shall be taken into account, in particular by considering the production, use and end of life of those products and services. A useful resource for reference to the more granular DNSH thresholds – the technical screening criteria defined under the EU taxonomy delegated acts – is the EU Taxonomy Compass.

The Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans regulations: green highlights

The Ukraine Facility Regulation establishes that ‘activities under the Facility shall comply, to the extent possible in a war-torn country, with the climate and environmental standards of the EU’; that ‘those activities shall mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation’; and that the activities ‘shall, to the extent possible, avoid stranded assets, be compatible with the ‘‘do no harm’’ principle, as well as with the sustainability mainstreaming approach underpinning the European Green Deal’ (Art. 4.4). The DNSH principle is referred to in Recital 30.

Moreover, the Facility shall not support activities or measures incompatible with Ukraine’s national energy and climate plan, or with Ukraine’s NDC under the Paris Agreement, which pro- mote investments in fossil fuels or cause significant adverse effects on the environment or the climate or biodiversity. Such activities may only be exempt from this requirement if they are ‘strictly necessary to achieve the objectives of the Facility, taking into account the need to rebuild and modernise infrastructure and rehabilitate natural environment damaged by the war in a resilient way, and are accompanied, where relevant, by appropriate measures to avoid, prevent or reduce and, if possible, offset those adverse effects’. (Art. 4.5).

The Ukraine Plan under the Ukraine Facility’s Pillar 1 is expected to apply a more stringent level of mainstreaming, applying the DNSH principle ‘to the extent possible in a context of war or post-war recovery and reconstruction’.

The general principles under the ‛Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans’ Regulation establish that activities under the Facility shall mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and environmental protection; they should avoid stranded assets and be guided by the DNSH principle, as well as by the sustainability mainstreaming approach underpinning the European Green Deal (Art. 4.5). In addition, the Facility shall not support activities or measures that are incompatible with the beneficiaries’ national energy and climate plans, their NDC and ambition to reach climate-neutrality by 2050, or that promote investments in fossil fuels, or that cause significant adverse effects on the environment or the climate (Art. 4.7).

Global Gateway’s green and clean principle

The Global Gateway is a climate-neutral strategy to speed up sustainable development and recovery, create inclusive growth and jobs and transition to a cleaner and more circular global economy. It will invest in developing infrastructures that are clean, climate-resilient and aligned with pathways towards net-zero emissions. Projects will live up to the European Green Deal oath to ‘do no harm’ and ensure the use of Environmental Impact Assessments and Strategic Environmental Assessments.

A triple planetary crisis

This risk is commonly referred to as the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, driven notably by the world’s ever-growing consumption of natural resources. In addition, the depletion of natural resources, which is itself a driver of the triple crisis, is highlighted as a key concern,

• Failure to address climate change. In its 6^th assessment report (AR6) (2021), the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) observes that the cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: any further delay in global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. Overshooting 1.5°C may push the earth over several tipping points which, if triggered, will rapidly cascade through socio-economic and ecological systems, leading to severe effects on human and natural systems and imposing important challenges for human adaptation⁽⁷⁾. Societal choices and actions implemented in the next decade determine the extent to which climate resilient development will be possible.
• Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse. The Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019) observes that nature is essential for human well-being and that nature’s contributions to people are not replaceable. Biodiversity is declining faster than at any other point during human history. International environmental goals will not be achieved based on current trajectories, due to the projected impacts of increasing use of land and sea, exploitation of organisms and climate change. As our ecosystems deteriorate so do the sinks that sequester carbon and provide protection against the impacts of climate change, such as floods or extreme heat.

About 75 % of global land surface is significantly altered, 66 % of the ocean area is experiencing human impacts, over 85 % of wetland area has been lost, and around 1 million species face extinction.

• Pollution. In its report Towards a Pollution-Free Planet, UNEP observes that pollution is not a new phenomenon; it is largely controllable and often avoidable, but considerably neglected. Pollution puts stress on ecosystems and often imposes a disproportionate burden on the poor and the vulnerable such as the elderly, children and the disabled. Responses by governments, business and citizens to pollution remain limited in scope and scale. Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death (9 million annually). World Health Organization (WHO) data show that almost the whole global population (99 %) breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of pollutants, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposure⁽⁸⁾.
• Destructive exploitation of natural resources including raw materials. In its Global Resources Outlook (2024), the UN International Resource Panel has calculated that over the past five decades, our global population has doubled and the use of natural resources has more than tripled. The extraction and processing of natural resources accounts for more than 90 % of our biodiversity loss and water stress and approximately half of our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Some key definitions

Mainstreaming (environment and climate change): the deliberate and proactive integration of environmental concerns, including climate, into development policies, plans, budgets and actions (OECD-DAC, 2019).

Greening: beyond ‘mainstreaming’ (of environment and climate change), which refers to systematically integrating environment and climate change in EU cooperation, ‘greening’ aims to align EU international cooperation with its environmental and climate objectives; it emphasises the need not only to design actions that minimise their adverse effects on the environment and climate (do no harm/do no significant harm) but to identify actions and initiatives that make positive contributions to the green transition towards environmental sustainability, climate resilience and low-carbon development.

Green transition: the European Green Deal envisions an economy ensuring no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and economic growth decoupled from resource use (including through a circular economy), pollution and biodiversity loss.

Transformative change is a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values (IPBES Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services). Within the context of climate change, transformative change can be understood as a system-wide change that requires more than technological change through consideration of social and economic factors that, with technology, can bring about rapid change at scale (IPCC Global warming of 1.5ºC report).

Environment: the combination of elements whose complex interrelationships make up the settings, the surroundings and the conditions of life of the individual and of society, as they are or as they are felt (European Environment Agency). Environmental issues therefore include climate mitigation and adaptation; the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services; the preservation and sustainable use of natural resources; pollution prevention and control.

Climate change: refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Note that the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.’ (Special Report SR15 of the IPCC).

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This is only a snapshot of some of the most important MEAs. Other MEAs cover air pollution, chemicals and waste, civil protection, environmental governance, land use, nature and biodiversity, seas and oceans and water.  Click here for a list of MEAs ratified by the EU.

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Main Green Deal policies and measures of relevance for international cooperation

• Climate mitigation. The ‘fit for 55’ package (2021) aims to realise the European Climate Law objectives: climate neutrality by 2050 and a 55 % reduction of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. The proposals aim to accelerate emission reductions in the sectors covered by the EU emissions trading system (ETS) and the sectors covered by the Effort-sharing Regulation, and to increase carbon removals in the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector.
• Climate adaptation. The EU Adaptation Strategy sets out how the European Union can adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and become climate resilient by 2050, based on four objectives: to make adaptation smarter, swifter and more systemic, and to step up international action on adaptation to climate change.
• Biodiversity. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets out a truly ambitious and far-reaching programme of measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in the EU and across the globe. It is closely linked to the CBD Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Circular economy. The Circular Economy Action Plan announces initiatives along the entire life cycle of products. It targets how products are designed, promotes circular economy processes, encourages sustainable consumption, and aims to prevent waste production and that resources are kept in the economy for as long as possible.
• Pollution. The Zero-Pollution Action Plan presents key 2030 targets to speed up reducing pollution at source. The action plan aims to strengthen the EU green, digital and economic leadership, whilst creating a healthier, socially fairer Europe and planet. It provides a compass to mainstream pollution prevention in all relevant EU policies, to step up implementation of the relevant EU legislation and to identify possible gaps.
• Mobility. The European Green Deal has a target to achieve a 90 % reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 within the EU. The New European Urban Mobility Framework provides guidance for local action on sustainable mobility, including on transport networks, urban logistics, multimodal terminals, walking and cycling, and the management of mobility flows.
• Agriculture. The Farm-to-Fork Strategy aims to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system that should have a neutral or positive environmental impact, help to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts, reverse the loss of biodiversity, ensure food security, nutrition and public health, making sure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food, preserve affordability of food while generating fairer economic returns, fostering competitiveness of the EU supply sector and promoting fair trade.
• Forestry. The New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 recognises the central and multifunctional role of forests, and the contribution of forests and of forest-based value chains for achieving a sustainable and climate neutral economy by 2050 and preserving lively and prosperous rural areas.
• Sustainable finance. The EU Sustainable Finance Strategy is instrumental in reaching climate and environmental targets by enabling investors to re-orient investments towards more sustainable technologies and businesses. The strategy notably includes the European Green Bond Standard proposal and the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities. On the international front, the Global Green Bond Initiative (GGBI) aims to support the expansion of green bond markets in the EU partner countries. Moreover, the Sustainable Finance Advisory Hub provides technical support for developing sustainable finance frameworks and sustainability-related financial instruments in partner countries. The hub will also assist GGBI partners in their expansion of green bond markets.
• Fair transition. A Council Recommendation sets out guidance to address employment and social aspects for a fair transition towards climate neutrality. Particular attention goes to people and households highly dependent on fossil fuels and that could be most affected by the green transition. With the right actions and policies in place, the green transition has the potential to create additional jobs.
• Education. EU Member States have confirmed their commitment to green education by adopting both a Council Recommendation on learning for the green transition and sustainable development and Council Conclusions on The transformative role of education for sustainable development and global citizenship as an instrumental tool for the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Some of the legislative initiatives prompted by the European Green Deal have implications for actors in third countries. For example, in relation to Regulation on deforestation and forest degradation or the Regulation establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Greening EU cooperation can contribute to addressing the implications of these policy and legislative initiatives in third countries.

A timeline on the implementation of the Green Deal can be consulted here.

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