The European Union’s proposed €750 billion fund to help the bloc recover from the coronavirus crisis will have green strings attached, with 25% of all funding set aside for climate action, the European Commission has said.

It’s now official: the EU’s updated seven-year €1 trillion budget proposal and €750 billion recovery plan will both be geared towards the green and digital transitions.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement on Wednesday (27 May) in a speech before the European Parliament. “The recovery plan turns the immense challenge we face into an opportunity, not only by supporting the recovery but also by investing in our future: the European Green Deal and digitalisation,” von der Leyen said in a statement, according to Euractiv.com.

Earlier plans to reserve 25% of EU spending for climate-friendly expenditure “will apply throughout” the EU’s updated budget proposal and recovery programme from the COVID-19 crisis, EU officials explained.

Spending will also be guided by a sustainable finance taxonomy, which aims to channel private investments into technologies that contribute to at least one of six pre-defined environmental objectives, such as climate change mitigation.