NRRP: what the targets to achieve are and the DNSH principle

Staff Cart-One 19/06/2026 0

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) comprises 10 investment projects and one reform project, aiming to achieve 6 missions in full alignment with the pillars of Next Generation EU. The Plan operates within a timeframe spanning from 2021 to 2026, with 18.161 billion allocated by MIMIT for the activation of investments.

The goal? To build a solid foundation to foster long-term, sustainable economic development while ensuring rapid implementation of the projects through streamlined instruments.

Before diving into the core aspects of the Italian NRRP and the targets to be reached, it is important to take a step back to understand the context, causes, and needs that led to the creation and design of this Plan.

The Italian and European scenario and context

The Coronavirus and the resulting pandemic hit the Italian economy harder than other European countries. Specifically, in 2020 alone, the gross domestic product shrank by 8.9%, compared to a 6.2% decline across the European Union. Women and young people were the most affected targets, especially those residing in Southern Italy.

Behind the national economy's difficulty in keeping pace with other advanced European nations lies the trend in productivity, which has grown much slower than in the rest of Europe. Among the main causes is the inability to exploit the multiple opportunities related to the digital revolution, stemming from both a lack of adequate infrastructure and the very structure of our country's production fabric, which is characterized by a prominent presence of small and medium-sized enterprises that have often been slow or unable to adopt new technologies and transition toward higher value-added production.

To counter the crisis caused by the pandemic, the European Union responded with Next Generation EU (NGEU). This highly ambitious program includes investments and reforms designed to:

  • accelerate the green and digital transition
  • foster training and education for workers

With the objective of achieving greater gender, territorial, and generational equity. 

Italy is the largest beneficiary, in absolute terms, of the two main instruments of the NGEU: the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) package. In turn, the RRF facility requires EU member states to present an investment and reform package: the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).

The National Relaunch Plan: the three strategic axes

The National NRRP is built around three strategic axes:

Green transition

The presented plan aims to reduce polluting emissions, prevent and combat territorial instability, minimize the environmental impact of production activities, and bring improvements to the quality of life, environmental safety, and the competitiveness of our production system, leaving a greener country and a more sustainable economy for future generations. Over 37% of the total resources have been allocated to this project.

Digitalization and innovation

The digitalization and innovation of processes, products, and services represent a fundamental and necessary factor for the country's transformation and must form the core of every policy within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. More than 20% of the resources have been assigned to this initiative.

Social inclusion

Targeting gender equality, protecting and empowering youth, and bridging regional divides: these are the priorities to focus on to ensure genuine social inclusion, overcome inequalities, and foster the economic rebirth of a country.

The 6 Missions of the NRRP

There are 6 missions included in the NRRP, in line with the 6 Pillars outlined by the RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) Regulation:

  • DIGITALIZATION, INNOVATION, COMPETITIVENESS, CULTURE, AND TOURISM
  • GREEN REVOLUTION AND ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION
  • INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
  • EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
  • INCLUSION AND COHESION
  • HEALTH

Public Administrations are responsible for implementing the individual interventions required by the NRRP, and they must carry out strict checks on procedures while ensuring the traceability of all operations.

On December 30th, 2021, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) published an Operational Guide to help Administrations evaluate the projects to be funded under the NRRP. Specifically, the document aims to provide all the necessary information to verify compliance with the Principle of "doing no significant harm to the environment": this dictates that all measures within the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRP) must comply with the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle, as enshrined in Article 17 of the Taxonomy Regulation.

What the DNSH PRINCIPLE is and what the 6 environmental objectives are

This principle stems from a comprehensive and complex piece of European Union legislation: the Taxonomy of environmentally sustainable economic activities. This defines and classifies which economic activities can be considered sustainable and under what conditions. In doing so, the European Union intends to definitively resolve the lack of a standardized definition for the concept of sustainability.

To reach this goal, 6 environmental missions have been identified:

  1. Climate change mitigation
  2. Climate change adaptation
  3. Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
  4. Transition to a circular economy
  5. Pollution prevention and control
  6. Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

In light of the aforementioned objectives, the Taxonomy has established 3 criteria that an activity must satisfy to be defined as environmentally sustainable:

  • It must make a substantial contribution to one of the environmental objectives;
  • It must not cause any significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives (DNSH);
  • It must comply with minimum social safeguards.

It is within this framework that the principle of "doing no significant harm" applies as an essential requirement for environmental sustainability.

The choice to tie NRRP funds to full compliance with the DNSH principle is strictly connected to the European New Green Deal strategy (from which the Taxonomy project itself derives), aimed at driving the green transition across the entire European continent.

CART ONE has always been committed to acting in full compliance with the DNSH principle and the environmental objectives mentioned above.

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