Briefing: Environmental mainstreaming in EU State aid policy

There is currently no environmental mainstreaming in State aid policy. That leaves no safeguards against environmentally harmful State aid. A more environmentally ambitious State aid policy, with more transparency and accountability, would benefit the environment, enhance company resilience, foster sustainable development and boost EU competitiveness.

The European Commission should therefore implement environmental mainstreaming across State aid policy and:

• Ensure that State aid measures are systematically checked against compliance with EU environmental law and integrate the “Do No Significant Harm” principle horizontally across State aid policy.
• Environmental conditionalities should be integrated in State aid policy and added to individual State aid decisions where applicable.
• When assessing the potential negative effects of an aid measure on competition and trade, it is sometimes necessary to consider environmental considerations, given the growing environmental risks which impact most economic sectors.