Implementation at a glance
The progress tracker below provides an overview of the implementation status of each strategic action within this key action area.
For more detailed information on individual measures, including their current status, description, and latest developments, click on the relevant measure further down the page to expand it.
The concrete actions are classified as follows:
- completed: the main deliverable has been carried out as planned. No further substantial implementation steps are planned for this specific action beyond standard follow-up activities or the use of the output.
- completed and continuing: the main deliverable conceived for the action has been completed, but by nature it involves an ongoing activity that continues beyond the initial output. The ‘one-off’ part has been completed, but the underlying support or coordination will continue.
- ongoing: implementation is still in progress. Either the main deliverable has not yet been fully achieved or the action was conceived as multiannual and is still being implemented.
- upcoming: for actions that have not yet started implementation.
- discontinued: the action will not be pursued further in the form announced in the 2021 action plan. This may be due to a change in the policy context (the original objective being overtaken by other initiatives) or the Commission deciding not to take further action after exploratory work.
Enabling framework for investments
Improve trust and comparability and enable investments to be directed towards social objectives at scale.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Strengthen the framework for private social investment by consolidating and systematising the most relevant standards, measurement definitions, concepts and methods. To this end, it will, in cooperation with the OECD, explore a voluntary, market-led framework of investable objectives supported by outcome models and indicators. This will help investors design, assess and compare investment strategies consistently and flexibly.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Use the upcoming review of the European venture capital funds (EuVECA) regime as an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for venture and growth capital investors. Progress in this area will also benefit social impact investment, including users of the European social entrepreneurship fund (EuSEF) label.
Status
Discontinued
Description
Prepare a report on the possible extension of the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance to social objectives.
Implementation
The Commission commissioned a report on social investing, which was completed in February 2024. The report provided the Commission with a comprehensive overview of the current state of private social impact investment across the EU, identifying existing market practices, investment gaps and key challenges faced by market participants. However, the report was unable to identify concrete measures to strengthen the social investment framework within capital markets, but it does provide valuable insights and serves as an internal resource to inform ongoing reflections and possible future policy developments in this area.
Evidence on social finance
Improve understanding of social economy finance to fine-tune financial instruments.
Status
Upcoming
Description
The Commission will prepare a report under the InvestEU Advisory Hub to catalogue intermediaries serving social economy organisations and their products and identify financing gaps and recommendations for product innovation.
Status
Upcoming
Description
The Commission will pilot an assessment of impact and outcomes at beneficiary level of InvestEU financial instruments for microfinance and social enterprise.
Status
Upcoming
Description
The Commission expert group will publish a report with practical recommendations on access to finance for the social economy.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Assess on a regular basis the market gaps and suboptimal investment situations faced by social economy entities both in terms of debt and equity, and develop, where required, market testing and, if conclusive, innovative pilot financial products.
Implementation
One of the InvestEU Advisory Hub’s functions is to monitor market developments in order to build an investable pipeline of projects.
Blending mechanisms are being introduced to complement the financial products under InvestEU’s Social Investment and Skills Window. These mechanisms will combine repayable financial products with a non-repayable component, funded by the EaSI strand of the ESF+. The goal is to enhance the impact of existing InvestEU products, thereby fostering the growth of the social investment market and the microfinance ecosystem. A first pilot project with the Council of Europe Development Bank is currently being deployed. This pilot project blends microfinance products with non-repayable support, such as mentoring and interest subsidies. Additionally, the European Investment Fund is expected to launch a blended instrument in 2026.
Innovative private financing schemes
Promote new financing schemes that mobilise private capital and align with social economy governance principles.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Explore the feasibility of replicating innovative solutions to mobilise private capital, for example by launching a study on the potential use of dormant assets to create public guarantees and publishing a handbook for asset managers and policymakers on replicating the French 90-10 funds model.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Assessing the launch of dedicated co-investment mechanisms with foundations and philanthropic organisations around target mission areas, with the aim of channelling additional capital towards sustainability, inclusion, social innovation, housing and homelessness, media pluralism, and developing social impact ecosystems.
Implementation
The Philanthropic Capital Study was finalised in December 2022. It analyses the landscape of philanthropic capital in the EU, the investment tools that philanthropic organisations use and the potential for catalysing mission-related investments through EU tools (i.e. under InvestEU). The Commission is currently in discussions with the European Investment Fund about the potential establishment of a platform involving foundations.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Launch an action on innovative financing aiming at creating a pilot project for mobilising philanthropic contributions, alongside crowdfunding and public capital too.
Implementation
As part of the New European Bauhaus Lab project on innovative funding, a cocreation exercise for a pilot project began in October 2025. It brings together funding streams, experts and projects to develop a methodology for selecting projects and matching them with funding sources. This exercise will establish a digital platform. The key project milestones are the launch of a platform with basic features (May 2026), the selection and development of matchmaking methodologies (October 2026) and the platform launch (April 2027).
Status
Discontinued
Description
Depending on market interest, the InvestEU Advisory Hub may support the setting-up of cross-border investment platforms that would group together partners interested in investments in the social economy.
Implementation
The need for this action has not yet been confirmed. No requests have been made to the InvestEU Advisory Board.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Revise the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision so that microfinance continues to meet the needs of under-represented entrepreneurs and people in vulnerable situations. The updated Code will aim to strengthen the social dimension of microfinance, align the framework with new realities in the social economy and make certification more accessible, efficient and supportive of diverse institutional models.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Launch new financial products in 2022 under the InvestEU programme aimed at mobilising private financing targeted at the needs of social enterprises at different stages of development. This will include guarantees to enable access to credit for social enterprises and The InvestEU Advisory Hub will provide support for financial intermediaries. microenterprises, equity and quasi-equity investments in social enterprises and impact-driven enterprises, as well as capital investments in financial intermediaries.
Implementation
In 2022, the Commission’s InvestEU implementing partners started launching financial products under the Social Investment and Skills Window. These financial products facilitate access to finance for micro, social and impact-driven enterprises, support investment in education and skills, and support investment in social infrastructure (including social affordable housing). Out of an EU guarantee of EUR 2.8 billion allocated for this purpose, around EUR 1.2 billion in guarantees have been allocated to InvestEU implementing partners for microfinance, social entrepreneurship and social impact investing; these guarantees are expected to mobilise EUR 11.7 billion in investments. Moreover, the InvestEU Advisory Hub provides technical assistance to financial intermediaries. The implementation of the Hub is well underway. The Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistance programme is specifically designed to support social enterprise finance providers and microfinance institutions, contributing directly to the development of inclusive finance across the EU.
Status
Ongoing
Description
In cooperation with the InvestEU implementing partners, ensure that InvestEU financial intermediaries providing finance to social enterprises are easy to identify by potential beneficiaries, including through the InvestEU Portal and the EU Social Economy Gateway.
Implementation
In 2022, the EaSI Technical Assistance programme transitioned to the Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistanceprogramme. The latter is managed by the European Investment Bank and funded by the EU under the InvestEU Advisory Hub. SIFTA focuses on non-financial support activities related to the former microfinance and social entrepreneurship axis of the EaSI programme. It also manages expressions of interest from potential beneficiaries via the InvestEU Portal. Additionally, the EU Social Economy Gateway makes it possible to promote financial intermediaries (for example, in the dedicated Member States pages).
Status
Ongoing
Description
Complement financial instruments with grant support for building social enterprise finance markets in Europe by supporting the setting up of new financial instruments and investment readiness programmes.
Implementation
The Commission launched a call for proposals in 2023. The objectives were to contribute to the development of feasible, suitable and reliable schemes or funds providing finance to social enterprises, and to help structures providing business development services and networking facilities to improve social enterprises’ investment readiness. Nine projects were selected.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Complement equity investment instruments with grant support aimed at lowering transaction costs for risk-capital investments into social enterprises.
Implementation
The Commission launched a call for proposals in 2022. The objective was to promote the growth of the social investment market and improve access to finance for social enterprises by offering grants to intermediaries in the social enterprise finance field to offset some of their transaction costs. Nine projects were selected.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Boost social innovation through a new approach to transnational cooperation under the ESF+. A new “European Competence Centre for Social Innovation” will be set up in 2022. It will organise mutual learning and capacity building for relevant authorities and support structures. In addition, a new scheme of grants facilitating the transfer and/or scaling up of social innovation will be set up.
Implementation
The Centre has been operational since November 2022 and is managed by the Lithuanian European Social Fund Agency (ESFA). It organises transnational exchanges and cooperation on social innovation through i) knowledge-sharing, ii) mutual learning and iii) capacity-building activities. To this end, the ESFA has set up five dedicated ESF+ communities of practice on social innovation, employment, education and skills, material support and migrant integration. The Centre has evolved into a knowledge hub for social innovation, facilitating the dissemination of successful practices and the expansion of proven innovations by collaborating closely with national competence centres for social innovation.
The Centre promotes transnational calls for social innovation grants. The first call for proposals, launched in December 2022, supports EU mobility and the social inclusion of disadvantaged young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs). The second call, launched in August 2023, builds up and consolidates the capacity of national competence centres for social innovation. The third call launched in November 2023 supports skills development for vulnerable youth (particularly NEETs) by re-engaging them in learning and promoting their integration into the labour market. The fourth call launched in January 2024 supports innovative approaches to mitigate the societal consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The fifth call was launched in April 2024, focusing on integrating long-term unemployed people into the labour market and fostering their social inclusion. A sixth call was launched in June 2025, focusing on innovative approaches to improve labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities.
In addition, the Social Innovation Match platform has been created to support the transfer and scaling-up of social innovations by showcasing successful examples of social innovation initiatives across the EU.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Propose in 2022 a European Social Innovation Catalyst Fund under Horizon Europe engaging citizens, academics, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, impact investors and public administrators, with the aim of supporting the replication and scaling of successful social innovations to advance the objectives of the five EU Missions.
Implementation
A call for proposals was published in May 2022 but was unsuccessful. A new call was launched in 2024 and one project was selected. The project aims to unlock the untapped potentials of social innovations to boost the EU Missions by promoting, activating, scaling-up and mainstreaming these innovations; and by engaging and advising social innovation funders, social innovators and research and innovation policymakers at the EU, national and local levels.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Monitor and support Member States in the implementation of their respective RRPs.
Implementation
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is an EU instrument designed to support the economic and social recovery of EU Member States following the COVID-19 pandemic. It promotes inclusive growth, green and digital transformation, and increases resilience in the face of future challenges. Each Member State submitted a national plan outlining the reforms and investments to be funded. Several of these plans include specific reforms and investments supporting the social economy (in Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Spain).
Status
Ongoing
Description
Through the Affordable Housing Initiative, enhance the renovation capacity in social and affordable housing by mobilising cross-sectoral partnerships to pilot 100 renovation districts and by promoting qualitative, liveable, accessible, affordable homes.
Implementation
A call for proposals was launched in 2021 to support the development of lighthouse renovation districts across the EU and provide innovative approaches to social and affordable housing renovation. The selected project offered mentorship, knowledge-sharing opportunities, workshops, study visits and one-on-one sessions to help local actors improve their renovation efforts.
In 2023, a follow-up call for proposals was launched to strengthen the capacity of SMEs for social and affordable housing projects. The initiative establishes local industrial partnerships to provide tailored support for neighbourhood renovation and energy poverty initiatives. It targets the renovation and construction of housing districts while promoting quality, energy efficiency and social inclusion.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Look into ways to foster synergies between different EU funding programmes to identify successful projects that could be potentially scaled up to social enterprises.
Implementation
Platforms such as Kohesio and Keep.eu provide comprehensive information on projects cofinanced by Cohesion Policy funds, showcasing successful initiatives and effective practices from across the EU. The EU Funding & Tenders Portal also provides access to detailed results and deliverables of funded projects, allowing users to identify those with the greatest potential for broader impact. The Social Innovation Match platform showcases examples of successful social innovation initiatives funded by ESF+. These resources help stakeholders to discover innovative solutions and projects that could be scaled up or replicated to address social and economic challenges.
Status
Completed and continuous
Description
Guidance on EU funding opportunities will also be provided via the InvestEU Advisory Hub, the Enterprise Europe Network and the EU Social Services Helpdesk.
Implementation
One of the initiatives that provided guidance on EU funding is the EU Social Services Helpdesk, a three-year project (2022-2024) coordinated by the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD). The Helpdesk offered resources and support related to social services and EU funding opportunities for the social economy. These resources are linked in the EU Social Economy Gateway. Additionally, the InvestEU Advisory Hub provides advisory support and technical assistance (including capacity-building) to project promoters and financial intermediaries. Through the Advisory Hub, the Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistance (SIFTA) offers targeted advisory and market development support to financial institutions operating in the microfinance and social entrepreneurship sectors.