GreenGov is an Interreg Europe funded project that helps European Regions and local authorities to implement the EU Taxonomy and improve the governance of their financing schemes. 

Context of the project: 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 contributes substantially to one of its six environmental objectives while respecting the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle.

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 programmes, 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 aims at helping European regions and local authorities better understand and implement the EU Taxonomy in their public policies. The partners are working 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 targets eight policy instruments: four ERDF regional programmes, a green finance strategy, an economic transition governance strategy, a development strategy and a regional climate strategy. 

The partnership and the role of Poliedra

Led by the Ile de France Region, GreenGov involves other seven territorial partners, covering the 4 geographical zones of the Interreg Europe programme. Poliedra contributes to the project as Advisory partner and Communication manager.