Part 1. Introduction |
The Greening EU International Cooperation Toolbox replaces the 2016 guidelines ‘Integrating the environment and climate change into EU international cooperation and development’. It consists of a core section and annexes that offer more detailed guidance and tools.
The toolbox reflects new EU policy priorities such as the Global Gateway and the European Green Deal, as well as the growing urgency to accelerate the green transition and environmental and climate action. Alignment to key international commitments is also at the core of this toolbox, primarily to the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
These require a significant shift in the way environment and climate action is treated in international partnerships. Whereas avoidance and minimisation of adverse impacts on the environment and climate is a basic requirement reflected in the 'do no harm' (DNH) and 'do no significant harm' (DNSH) principles, alignment to environmental and climate objectives is fundamental, and positive contributions to environmental sustainability, climate resilience and low carbon development should be encouraged as a starting point for all actions.
This toolbox is in line with the current international cooperation instruments (NDICI-Global Europe and IPA III) and takes account of the new approaches towards mutually beneficial international partnerships, which prioritise support to investments in the form of the provision of guarantees and the use of innovative financial instruments. It also reflects the emphasis on coordinated action at EU level (Team Europe) and the need to promote enabling policies and address green and social priorities under the 360-degree approach of the EU Global Gateway Agenda.
This is a living toolbox that will be updated periodically.
The challenge. We are facing three major and inter-related environmental crises: climate change, biodiversity collapse and pollution. All sectors must contribute to the green transition, not only by mitigating their negative environmental impacts, but by aligning policies and actions to environmental and climate objectives and actively contributing to the solutions. The ambitious environmental and climate goals and targets set by the international community and the EU will not be achieved with a business-as-usual approach. It is time to step up our action to accelerate the green transition.
Click here to find out more on the triple planetary crisis.
Purpose and target group. The toolbox targets staff in EU Delegations and European Commission headquarters involved in international cooperation, as well as implementing partner organisations and partner countries. The green transition is a shared responsibility of everyone working in all sectors and across all regions and instruments. Potential contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental sustainability and disaster risk reduction must be considered a starting point in the identification and formulation of each programme and every action and investment. Interventions that bring a positive contribution should be prioritised, while those offering limited such opportunities should ensure compliance with the ‘do no harm’ principle, usually operationalised through the 'do no significant harm' principle.
Achieving the green transition is a shared responsibility involving all EU services
This document provides practical guidance and tools to align EU international cooperation with environmental and climate objectives and to help partners engage in transformative change. It covers the whole intervention cycle (from programming to evaluation) and the different implementation modalities.
Click here to check key definitions.
With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) at its core, the 2030 Agenda is a transformative plan to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development globally. It provides a framework for action balancing the interlinked economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda aims to leave no one behind.
All SDGs are interconnected, with a common base linked to the biophysical domain: clean water and sanitation (6), climate action (13), life below water (14), and life on land (15). Without this 'planetary' base, key basic services and rights would not be sustainable: food security (2), health (3), education (4) and gender equality (5). Other SDGs are essential for the green transformation: affordable and clean energy (7), sustainable cities and communities (11) and responsible consumption and production (12). Practically all SDGs have targets related to environmental sustainability, climate resilience or climate change mitigation.
Figure 1. Planet SDGs provide the living basis for other goals, “supporting the needs of the present and future generations.” (1)
The EU is spearheading international action to address the multiple planetary challenges by playing an active role in the elaboration and implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), including through its cooperation instruments. This is in line with the Lisbon Treaty objectives to promote measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change (Art. 191). The main MEAs of relevance to this toolbox that have been ratified by the EU can be found in this link; these have also been ratified by most of our partner countries and to various degrees transposed into their own policies and regulations. The full list of MEAs ratified by the EU can be found here.
How the EU ensures its international cooperation is aligned with the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity FrameworkAs per the OECD(2), 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:
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(3), as well as:
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Systematic environmental integration is a legal obligation established by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which stipulates that environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union’s policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development (Art. 11).
The European Consensus on Development (2017) reaffirms poverty eradication as the primary development objective, but it also integrates and balances the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Structured around the '5 Ps' of the 2030 Agenda for People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships, the Consensus reaffirms the EU commitment to policy coherence for development. It also reaffirms that 'the EU and its Member States will integrate environment and climate change throughout their development cooperation strategies, including by promoting a sound balance between mitigation and adaptation'.
In 2019 the EU launched its sustainable growth strategy, the European Green Deal, setting out its priorities to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent, become a world leader in the circular economy, eliminate pollution, protect biodiversity, decouple economic growth from natural resource use and mobilise finance.
With the Green Deal, all EU actions and policies should help the EU achieve a successful and just transition towards a climate neutral and sustainable future. The Green Deal lays the foundation to mainstream climate and the environment in all EU policies, pursuing green finance and investment, greening national budgets, enhancing skills, mobilising research, and promoting innovation for a green and just transition. It also includes a green oath to do no harm.
The Green Deal and its components have a strong external dimension. Not only do many of its policies directly affect countries outside the EU, but it also commits the EU to promote and support ambitious environmental and climate action across the world; step up bilateral engagement with partner countries through diplomacy, trade policy and development support; integrate the Green Deal’s priorities into all interventions; and continue to help channel both public and private funds to support green investment and a just transition. The Green Deal external dimension opens new opportunities for international partner- ships, not only in response to EU priorities but also for the promotion of bilateral interests, strengthening the EU’s leadership in critical sectors such as clean energy, urban development and sustainable transport, whilst ensuring access to critical raw materials.
Figure 2. The European Green Deal is a package of policy initiatives that aims to set accelerate the green transition in the EU
The main international funding instruments are the Neighbourhood, Development and International Co-operation Instrument – Global Europe(4) (NDICI-GE), and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III), both established for a period of seven years (2021-2027).
NDICI-Global Europe and IPA III regulations: green highlightsThe 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(5) defines an objective to reinforce environmental protection, to in- crease 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)(6). |
The “do no harm” and "do no significant harm” principlesDo 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 ap- propriate, 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. Fur- ther 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:
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. |
Other instruments to which this toolbox applies include the Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans.
The Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans regulations: green highlightsThe 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 under- pinning 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). |
The Global Gateway is a European strategy to boost investments in partner countries; it stands for sustainable and trusted connections that work for people and the planet and is delivered through a Team Europe approach. It also seeks to mobilise the private sector to leverage investments for a transformational impact in digital, climate and energy, transport, health, education, and research. ‘Green and clean’ is a central principle of the Global Gateway strategy. It seeks to create inclusive growth and jobs through investments in infrastructures that is clean, climate-resilient and aligned with pathways towards net-zero emissions. Projects under this strategy are also subject to the DNH principle.
Also central to the Global Gateway is the 360-degree approach (see Figure 3). Interventions under the 360-degree approach (notably Global Gateway flagships) should align with the ‘green and clean’ principle and be accompanied by investments in the enabling environment, among other things, environ- mental, social and governance (ESG) standards.
Figure 3. The 360-degree approach in the Global Gateway
Global Gateway’s green and clean principleThe 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. |
Transformative change is urgently needed to deliver the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework, in line with the Global Gateway and the European Green Deal. Business-as-usual will not achieve sustainability but instead risks breaching planetary tipping points with irreversible effects for the environment and thereby human societies and the economy. Goals for 2030 and beyond will only be achieved through transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological domains.
The elements for action provided below will help maximise opportunities for steering a portfolio of projects into the desired direction. Tools and good practice examples are rapidly becoming available (see the section 3.1. on Guidance and Inspirational Material).
To reach the ambitious EU green targets by 2030, transformative actions need to be launched now, across all sectors
Key principles and steps for an enhanced greening approach, matching the ambition of international goals and the European Green Deal include:
| Make greening everyone's responsibility Greening cuts across all sectors and programmes of EU cooperation. To achieve results, it needs strong signals of commitment by management (from Heads of Units to the DG; from Head of Cooperation to Heads of Delegation; from middle-management to staff at all levels). Moreover, it needs to be championed by well-trained colleagues throughout the organisation and be based on institutional learning. It requires the active engagement of each and every colleague involved in designing and implementing our actions. |
| Apply a green lens early on The best chance of identifying environmental benefits is to apply a ‘green lens approach’ from the earliest stage of the identification of an action, when development options are still open. ‘Anything that can be green should be green’ is a good guiding principle. Identifying greening opportunities upstream leads to more meaningful, effective and efficient opportunities for transformational change. Greening efforts should apply from the programming phase and the policy dialogue that underpins them, as well as to the development of investment pipelines, and then be further reflected along the cycle. |
| Focus on positive contributions We must move from merely doing no harm to doing good. In practical terms this means to proactively seek win-wins for environmental sustainability and climate action while achieving economic and social benefits. Some examples include the use of nature-based solutions and identifying synergies between sector objectives and environmental and climate objectives |
| Ensure interventions are environment- and climate-proof The application of the DNH and DNSH principles ensures no significant harm to the environment and climate, including avoiding excluded activities. On the other hand, it is necessary to identify how environmental degradation processes and climate change can affect the feasibility, effectiveness and sustainability of our project. Both dimensions need to be taken into consideration. This is often referred to as the ‘double materiality’. |
| Cover all steps of the intervention cycle Ensure the environmental and climate intentions identified at the start of an action are well transmitted throughout the intervention cycle. Avoid or minimise the risk of dilution, when green ambitions lose their strength during formulation or implementation. Uplift green action until it leads to meaningful results, through regular reviews during implementation, and by embedding climate and environmental issues in mid-term and final evaluations. |
| Look beyond sector horizons Many actions at sector level may not have environmental or climate benefits in mind from the start. Yet, in the context of a green paradigm shift, all sectors have a role to play. For instance, public finance management can be a key enabler of an integrated government green transition. |
| All financial instruments need to contribute Aligning financial instruments with environment and climate objectives is essential to accelerate the transition. A green and inclusive transition requires the mobilisation of significant public and private funds, including through innovative schemes and partnerships. Setting the scene for a green economy implies working on enabling environments and greening public finance reforms, notably with the leverage of budget support. Regulatory frameworks, green fiscal reforms, sustainable finance taxonomies and green bonds can attract new financial flows and boost green investments, while averting investments in environmentally harmful activities. Green taxes can address market failures by ensuring that the polluter pays and foster producers and consumer behavioural change towards greener economies. |
| Promote the greening of sector policies, plans and strategies at national level An effective way to advance transformational change is to support partner governments to align their own development policies and investment plans to environment and climate change objectives. The EU can provide technical assistance and capacity development, and promote the use of instruments such as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to this effect. |
| Use evidence and monitor environmental and climate performance Seek information and evidence to improve understanding on climate and environmental issues and to identify green solutions. Support tracking, monitoring & evaluation and reporting on green action, by using relevant indicators and verifying there are real contributions to the environment. Ensure climate and environmental issues are considered in lessons learnt to feed future action. Build evidence on benefits of green action to influence decision makers and harness their motivation to promote sound environmental and climate policies. |
| Advocate the green transformation in policy dialogue with partners The green transformation requires coordinated action by many actors from various sectors. It requires awareness and strong commitment. Introducing environment and climate change as a systematic feature in our policy dialogue not only advances EU values and commitments towards sustainability but helps to consolidate the building block for transformational change at national and regional level. Build bridges with local government, civil society and the private sector to embrace and support the green transition, in particular to promote innovation, out-of-the-box ideas and question the carbon-based economy model. |
The NDICI-Global Europe, Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) and Ukraine Facility regulations, as well as the regulation for the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, and the Decision on the Overseas Association including Greenland (DOAG), include targets for climate and biodiversity finance for the period 2021-2027. Climate and biodiversity targets are complementary and not mutually exclusive. Where possible, the same programme/action should help to achieve several objectives.
After achieving the USD 100 billion climate finance goal in 2022, the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) to be adopted in Azerbaijan during UNFCCC COP29, will add another layer of political discussion to the reform of the international financial architecture. The NCQG is a new global climate finance goal that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) shall set from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, prior to 2025. This new goal will be set in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, considering the needs and priorities of developing countries.
For the EU it is important that not only other developed countries contribute to public climate finance, but also other countries that have the capacity to do so. In addition to public finance, we also need to work on how to increase the role of the private sector and innovative sources in climate finance to achieve the Paris Agreement.
The Global Gateway investment agenda can boost climate finance flows and create opportunities through transformative, large-scale projects for partners’ transition in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recital (49) of the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation states that actions under the NDICI-Global Europe are expected to contribute 30 % of its overall financial envelope to climate objectives.
In addition, in her State of the European Union (SOTEU) address in September 2021, President von der Leyen announced an additional EUR 4 billion for climate finance until 2027.
Climate benchmarks have been proposed for some bilateral, regional and thematic programme.
Recital 25 of the IPA III Regulation indicates that actions under IPA III are expected to contribute 18 % of the overall IPA III financial envelope to climate objectives, with the objective of increasing to 20 % by 2027.
Recital 31 and Art. 28.9 of the Ukraine Facility Regulation indicates that the Facility should contribute, to the extent possible in a war-torn country, at least 20 % of the overall amount corresponding to sup- port under the Ukraine Investment Framework and to investments under the Ukraine Plan to climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental protection, including biodiversity conservation, and to the green transition. There are no differentiated targets for climate action.
Recital 25 of the ‛Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans’ Regulation indicates that the Facility should contribute to the achievement of the overall target of 30 % of Union budget expenditure supporting climate objectives. At least 37 % of the non-repayable financial support channelled through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) should account to climate objectives (Art. 19.4).
Recital 24 of the Council Decision on the Overseas Association, including Greenland (DOAG) states that actions under this programme are expected to contribute 25 % of their overall financial envelope to climate objectives.
The Global Biodiversity Framework sets ambitious financial targets. They address financing from all sources: domestic and international, public and private. Global biodiversity finance from all sources must reach USD 200 billion per year by 2030. As part of the agreement, international biodiversity finance must increase to USD 20 billion a year by 2025, and USD 30 billion by 2030. The agreement calls for the alignment of financial flows and investments with biodiversity objectives. Public and private financial flows must stop destroying nature and must, as far as possible, become nature positive. The targets also provide for the identification, elimination, phasing-out or reform of subsidies that are harmful for biodiversity by at least USD 500 billion per year by 2030.
Recital 49 of the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation, Recital 25 of the IPA III Regulation, Recital 25 of the ‛Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans’ Regulation and Recital 24 of DOAG state that actions under these instruments should contribute to the ambition of providing 7.5 % of annual spending under the MFF to biodiversity objectives in 2024 and 10 % in 2026 and 2027. There is no biodiversity-specific target under the Ukraine Facility Regulation (see section on climate targets above).
In addition, in her State of the EU address in September 2021, President von der Leyen announced that the EU would double its external funding for biodiversity, in particular for the most vulnerable countries(8). This implies that EUR 7 billion of EU external assistance (2021-2027) should contribute to biodiversity.
Annual funding allocated to climate action, combating desertification and biodiversity is subject to an annual tracking system based on the OECD DAC methodology(9) using of the Rio markers(10), without excluding the use of more precise methodologies where these are available. Aid to environment and support to disaster risk reduction are measured based on the corresponding OECD policy markers.
Each marker has three possible scores: score 2 where an action contributes to the theme as ‘a principal objective’, score 1 to ‘a significant objective’ and score 0 when the theme is ‛not targeted’.
The Commission translates the marker scores into financial contributions as follows: 100 % of the action’s budget is considered to contribute to the relevant environment or Rio theme if it is scored as ‘principal objective’ and 40 % if scored as ‘significant objective’. No contributions are reported if the marker is scored as ‘not targeted’.
Details on the use of the Rio markers, including definitions, eligibility criteria and guidance for the application of the markers can be found in Annex 2.
A new methodology to track financial contributions will be in place for the next MFF (2028-2034) based on Commission-wide coefficients, which will be linked to the Rio markers.
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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.’ [86] |
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(1) https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
(2) OECD (2019), Aligning Development Co-operation and Climate Action: The Only Way Forward, The Development Dimension, OECD Publishing, Paris.
(3) In 2024, OECD DAC members are working to develop a common understanding of an alignment with the GBF. See: Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level, Paris, 7-8 June 2023.
(4) Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe.
(5) Regulation (EU) 2021/1529 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 September 2021 establishing the Instrument for Pre-Accession assistance (IPA III)..
(6) Art. 16 of the Annex to the Commission Decision of 31.3.2022 establishing a model for a financial framework partnership agreement between the Commission and the government of an IPA III beneficiary indicates that ‘IPA III assistance shall be implemented in accordance with Art. 9 of the IPA III Regulation and Chapter III of Title II of the NDICI Regulation’ (C(2022)1857 final).
(8) In concrete terms, and taking 2014-2020 funding as the baseline, this means that the NDICI-GE and IPA III contributions to biodiversity should collectively reach EUR 7 billion over 2021-2027.
(9) As per Article 41.8 of the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation.
(10) There are four Rio markers: Biodiversity, Combating Desertification, Climate Change Mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation.
