Environmental impact of increased digitalisation in the context of Recovery and Resilience Facility reforms and investments

Subject: Environmental impact of increased digitalisation in the context of Recovery and Resilience Facility reforms and investments

According to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) regulation, investments in digital technologies should respect the principle of energy efficiency1. As reported by an international study2, digital technologies now cause more CO2 emissions and have a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry.

1. Has the Commission studied the climate impact of at least 20 % of RRF investment in digitalisation?

2. How will it make sure that the vast investments in digitalisation under the RRF remain in line with the EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050?

3. How will it assess the national recovery and resilience plans to ensure that the proposed investments in digitalisation respect the principle of energy efficiency and the EU’s climate neutrality targets?

1 Recital 12 of the RRF Regulation, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R0241

2 https://theshiftproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lean-ICT-Report_The-Shift-Project_2019.pdf

Answer given by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission (7 July 2021)

Investment into digital technologies is an essential driver for growth, productivity and innovation. This is reflected by the inclusion of the 20% target for digital investments in Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (3).

The regulation requires that every reform and investment in the national recovery and resilience plans, including the digital ones, does no significant harm (DNSH) to the environmental objectives, for example by not leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions or inefficiencies in the use of materials.

When reviewing the plans, the Commission assesses whether each measure complies with the DNSH principle. Such assessment is conducted based on the information provided by the Member States and under the framework set out in the Commission’s Technical Guidance on DNSH. The Commission cannot assess positively a plan if one or more measures do not comply with the DNSH principle.

Digital investments have a significant potential to contribute to the achievement of environmental objectives, including energy efficiency and EU’s climate-neutrality targets. Such investments may include, for example, energy efficient data centres, smart energy grids, digitalisation of transport or development of energy-efficient microprocessors.

Where appropriate, the positive climate contribution of digital measures will be recognised by assigning to them a climate coefficient, contributing towards the plan’s 37% climate target.

To ensure that the climate related elements of a measure are duly implemented (for instance, the relevant conditions are included in a tender procedure), such elements are also included in the appropriate milestones and targets.

⋅1∙ Recital 12 of the RRF Regulation, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R0241

⋅2∙ https://theshiftproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lean-ICT-Report_The-Shift-Project_2019.pdf

⋅3∙ Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021,

p. 17‐75.