「欧州グリーンディール」における気候中立目標の達成に向けたトランジションとDNSH原則の展開

抄録

　European Green Deal is one of the top priorities for von der Leyen Commission. While climate action is at the heart of the European Green Deal, it covers wide range of policy areas including those beyond the scope of traditional climate action, such as budget and finance. To accelerate climate action under the European Green Deal, the EU set the objective of achieving climate neutrality in 2050 and enshrined it in the European Climate Law. While developing policies and measures toward achieving this objective, the role of natural gas as a transitional technology has been emerged as a point of political confrontation. For example, the Member States and other stakeholders are divided over whether natural gas should be recognized as a "transitional activity" under the Regulation （EU） 2020/852 （so called Taxonomy Regulation） or not. While climate neutrality objective is widely shared within the EU as its long-term goal, transition toward achieving the objective remains as a key political issue. On the other hand, there is a notable development to underpin such transition: the principle of 'do no significant harm' （DNSH principle）. It has been established through the EU budget negotiation, particularly in the context of establishing the Next Generation EU. Regulation （EU） 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility defines the term 'do no significant harm' by referring to the Article 17 of the Taxonomy Regulation and decides that the facility "shall only support measures respecting the principle of 'do no significant harm' ". Similar provisions are included in the Regulation （EU） 2021/1060 （common provision regulation） and the proposal by the European Commission to establish the Social Climate Fund. While the Taxonomy Regulation is established to provide guidance to private investments, DNSH principle is applied to public investments by the EU. It could be a tool to ensure consistency among different policies and measures under the European Green Deal.