EU to mobilize €100 bn to back climate-neutral economy

09 / 05 / 2020

By Marwa Nassar - -

The European Commission is scheduled to mobilize at least €100 billion of investments to support transition to climate-neutral economy.

The investments will provide additional targeted support to the regions most impacted by the transition towards a climate-neutral economy and with less capacity to deal with the challenge.

The European Commission has approved all requests made by 18 Member States for support with the preparation of their territorial just transition plans, which each Member State will have to draw up to get access to funding from the Just Transition Mechanism.

To recall, the Just Transition Mechanism is part of the European Green Deal Investment Plan which was launched in January 2020 with the ambition of becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050.

The deal is meant to help finance the transition.

Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said: “Our work on delivering the European Green Deal continues. Climate change remains a reality. Fighting it is as pressing as before. The Commission is strongly backing Member States to ensure a just transition in all European regions. This support under the Structural Reform Support Program is an important step – it will help to establish transition plans and allow Member States to benefit from the Just Transition Mechanism, making sure the transition towards a green economy happens in a fair way, leaving no one behind.”

Under the Structural Reform Support Program, the Commission will provide tailor-made expertise to, for example, help national and regional authorities “assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of the transition and outline the transition process up to 2030; build a dialogue among stakeholders, such as citizens, business and civil society, to reach a common vision on how to go about the transition; and identify actions to achieve a successful just transition.”

Future Steps:

Over the next months, until end of 2020, the Commission will provide targeted support to help Member States with the preparation of territorial just transition plans.

Member States will hold the pen in drafting and finalizing the territorial just transition plans, in close consultation with relevant national, regional and local stakeholders, ensuring ownership of the transition.

The plans will then be submitted to the Commission for approval.