Restoration of wetlands

✓ Climate mitigation

1. Restoration plan1.1. The area is covered by a restoration plan, which is consistent with the Ramsar Convention’s principles and guidelines on wetland restoration(69), until the area is classified as a wetland and is covered by a wetland management plan, consistent with the Ramsar Convention’s guidelines for management planning for Ramsar sites and other wetlands(70). For peatlands, the restoration plan follows the recommendations contained in relevant resolutions of the Ramsar Convention, including the resolution XIII/13.1.2. The restoration plan contains careful consideration of local hydrological and pedological conditions, including the dynamics of soil saturation and the change of aerobic and anaerobic conditions.1.3. All wetland management relevant DNSH criteria are addressed in the restoration plan.1.4. The restoration plan provides for monitoring which ensures the correctness of the information contained in the plan, in particular as regards the data relating to the involved area.2. Climate benefit analysis2.1. The activity complies with the following criteria:the climate benefit analysis demonstrates that the net balance of GHG emissions and removals generated by the activity over a period of 30 years after the beginning of the activity is lower than a baseline, corresponding to the balance of GHG emissions and removals over a period of 30 years starting at the beginning of the activity, associated to the business-as-usual practices that would have occurred on the involved area in the absence of the activity;the projected long-term average net GHG balance of the activity is lower than the long-term average GHG balance projected for the baseline, referred to in point 2.2, where long term corresponds to 100 years.2.2. The calculation of climate benefit complies with all of the following criteria:the analysis is consistent with the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories(71). In particular, if the wetland definition used in that analysis differs from the wetland definition used in the national GHG inventory, the analysis includes an identification of the different land categories covered by the involved area. The climate benefit analysis is based on transparent, accurate, consistent, complete and comparable information, covers all carbon pools impacted by the activity, including above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, deadwood, litter and soil, relies on the most conservative assumptions for calculations and includes appropriate considerations about the risks of non-permanence and reversals of carbon sequestration, the risk of saturation and the risk of leakage. For coastal wetlands, climate benefit analysis considers projections of expected relative sea level rise and the potential that the wetlands will migrate;the business-as-usual practices, including harvesting practices, are one of the following:the management practices as documented before the start of the activity, if any; the most recent business-as-usual practices prior to the start of the activity.the resolution of the analysis is proportionate to the size of the area concerned and values specific to the area concerned are used;emissions and removals that occur due to natural disturbances, such as pests and diseases infestations, fires, wind, storm damages, that impact the area and cause underperformance do not result in non-compliance with the criteria of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, provided that the climate benefit analysis is consistent with the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories regarding emissions and removals due to natural disturbances.4. Guarantee of permanence4.1. In accordance with national law, the wetland status of the area in which the activity takes place is guaranteed by one of the following measures:the area is designated to be retained as wetland and may not be converted to other land use; the area is classified as a protected area;the area is the subject of any legal or contractual guarantee ensuring that it will remain a wetland.4.2. In accordance with the national law, the operator of the activity commits that future updates to the restoration plan, beyond the activity that is financed, will continue to seek the climate benefits as determined in point 2. Besides, the operator of the activity commits to compensate any reduction in the climate benefit determined in point 2 with an equivalent climate benefit resulting from the conduct of an activity that corresponds to one of the environmental protection and restoration activities defined in this Regulation.5. AuditWithin two years after the beginning of the activity and every 10 years thereafter, the compliance of the activity with the substantial contribution to climate change mitigation criteria and with the DNSH criteria are verified by either of the following:the relevant national competent authorities;an independent third-party certifier, at the request of national authorities or the operator of the activity.In order to reduce costs, audits may be performed together with any forest certification, climate certification or other audit.The independent third-party certifier may not have any conflict of interest with the owner or the funder, and may not be involved in the development or operation of the activity.6. Group assessmentThe compliance with the criteria for substantial contribution to climate change mitigation and with DNSH criteria may be checked at the level of a group of holdings sufficiently homogeneous to evaluate the risk of the sustainability of the forest activity, provided that all those holdings have a durable relationship between them and participate in the activity and the group of those holdings remains the same for all subsequent audits.

✓ Climate adaptation

1. The economic activity has implemented physical and non-physical solutions (‘adaptation solutions’) that substantially reduce the most important physical climate risks that are material to that activity.2. The physical climate risks that are material to the activity have been identified from those listed in Appendix A of the applicable Delegated Act by performing a robust climate risk and vulnerability assessment with the following steps:screening of the activity to identify which physical climate risks from the list in Appendix A of the applicable Delegated Act may affect the performance of the economic activity during its expected lifetime;where the activity is assessed to be at risk from one or more of the physical climate risks listed in Appendix A of the applicable Delegated Act, a climate risk and vulnerability assessment to assess the materiality of the physical climate risks on the economic activity;an assessment of adaptation solutions that can reduce the identified physical climate risk.The climate risk and vulnerability assessment is proportionate to the scale of the activity and its expected lifespan, such that: for activities with an expected lifespan of less than 10 years, the assessment is performed, at least by using climate projections at the smallest appropriate scale;for all other activities, the assessment is performed using the highest available resolution, state-of-the-art climate projections across the existing range of future scenarios(71) consistent with the expected lifetime of the activity, including, at least, 10 to 30 year climate projections scenarios for major investments. 3. The climate projections and assessment of impacts are based on best practice and available guidance and take into account the state-of-the-art science for vulnerability and risk analysis and related methodologies in line with the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports(72), scientific peer-reviewed publications and open source(73) or paying models.4. The adaptation solutions implemented:do not adversely affect the adaptation efforts or the level of resilience to physical climate risks of other people, of nature, of cultural heritage, of assets and of other economic activities;favour nature-based solutions(74) or rely on blue or green infrastructure(75) to the extent possible;are consistent with local, sectoral, regional or national adaptation plans and strategies;are monitored and measured against pre-defined indicators and remedial action is considered where those indicators are not met; where the solution implemented is physical and consists in an activity for which technical screening criteria have been specified in this Annex, the solution complies with the do no significant harm technical screening criteria for that activity.5. In order for an activity to be considered as an enabling activity as referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, the economic operator demonstrates, through an assessment of current and future climate risks, including uncertainty and based on robust data, that the activity provides a technology, product, service, information, or practice, or promotes their uses with one of the following primary objectives: increasing the level of resilience to physical climate risks of other people, of nature, of cultural heritage, of assets and of other economic activities;contributing to adaptation efforts of other people, of nature, of cultural heritage, of assets and of other economic activities.