Recital (3) · Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1176

(3)The criterion related to responsible business conduct should ensure that activities carried out by companies are aligned with the needs of society and nature. Building on the relevant international standards framework, such as the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) and relevant Union legislation on corporate sustainability due diligence^note, in particular Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note as well as Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772^note, the introduction of a pre-qualification criterion on responsible business conduct in renewable energy auctions should go beyond the due diligence requirements in existing Union law by requiring to take action addressing the core elements of due diligence with regard to the general bidder’s business activities related to the auction. Bidders should also be required to publicly communicate on the actions taken to do so. To avoid putting an excessive bureaucratic burden, natural persons, companies that are not in the scope of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council^note as defined in its Articles 19a and 29a and their subsequent modifications and renewable energy communities should not be required to comply with this additional obligation and are subject to lighter requirements, while being entirely exempted from the application of the responsible business conduct criterion for projects with capacity below 10 MW. However, Member States should maintain the possibility to extend to natural persons, companies that are not in the scope of Directive 2013/34/EU as defined in its Articles 19a and 29a and their subsequent modifications and renewable energy communities the obligation to take action to address the core elements of due diligence for projects with capacity above 10 MW. The assessment of compliance with the responsible business conduct criterion should be based on the core elements of due diligence, as laid down in Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772^note.

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Defined terms · 13

Show every defined term

biodiversity impact
means any change in biodiversity such as in the abundance or distribution of species or distribution, structure and functions of habitats and ecosystems as a direct or indirect effect of net-zero technologies along their life cycle;
carbon footprint
means the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas removals in a product system, considering all relevant activities within the spatial and temporal boundary of the system, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents assessed based on 100-year time horizon global warming potentials and calculated based on a life cycle assessment study using the single impact category of climate change;
circular economy
means an economic system whereby the value of products, materials and other resources in the economy is maintained for as long as possible, enhancing their efficient use in production and consumption, thereby reducing the environmental impact of their use, minimising waste and the release of hazardous substances at all stages of their life cycle, including through the application of the waste hierarchy;
connection across energy carriers
means the ability of market participants to transfer energy from one energy carrier to another through energy conversion assets.
due diligence
means a process whereby companies identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the environmental and social negative impacts resulting from their business activities related to the auction;
energy efficiency
means the ratio of output of energy to the input of energy in the case of energy-generating products or the conversion efficiency, i.e. the ratio of the output of energy to the input of energy in the case of energy-converting and energy storage products;
locational impact
means the ability of market participants to help address the needs of the electricity system based on the selection of the site and the grid connection point;
network and information system
means network and information systems as defined in Article 6, point 1 of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
operational control
means the authority to introduce and implement operating policies that govern day-to-day activities, processes and resources to ensure the smooth functioning of an installation, and in particular of its network and information systems;
pollution
means pollution as defined in Article 3, point (2) of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and, for water-related pollution, as defined in Article 2(33) of Directive 2000/60/EC;
renewable energy community
means a renewable energy community as defined in Article 2(16) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;
security of network and information systems
means security of network and information systems as defined in Article 6, point (2) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;
temporal flexibility
means the ability of market participants to adapt generation, grid feed-in and consumption patterns to contribute to system needs across the relevant time frames, generally by reacting to market signals, in particular in the electricity sector;