Carbon Market Watch provided feedback to the European Commission’s consultation on the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ Principle, a criteria for EU funds that aims to ensure that EU projects do not contribute to environmental degradation. The Commission is currently establishing guidance on the implementation of the principle under the Social Climate Fund (the EU’s first fund to combat energy poverty, created as a result of the new ETS for buildings and road transport, beginning in 2027). This guidance will be for member states to consider in the planning and spending of their allocation of the fund and will establish common principles and specific assessment approaches and tools.

CMW calls for the Do No Significant Harm Criteria to include a specific exclusion of all fossil fuel investments. With the climate crisis escalating dramatically it is an imperative to ensure that the limited EU funds available contribute to the just transition, not undermine it. Any investment in low carbon rather than zero carbon alternatives locks lower income groups into continued fossil fuel use and wastes precious time and resources. With the climate crisis escalating dramatically it is an imperative to ensure that the limited EU funds available contribute to the just transition, not undermine it.