To finance a “just” energy transition that will cost billions, the von der Leyen Commission unveiled an investment plan this Tuesday in Strasbourg, which relies on a new fund to support the regions most dependent on coal.
With her “Green Deal” presented in December, just a few days after taking office, Ursula von der Leyen made climate the priority of her Commission. However, transitioning the continent towards carbon neutrality by 2050 will be costly.
With her “Just Transition Mechanism,” the Commission hopes to mobilize up to 100 billion euros over the next decade while ensuring that communities still heavily economically dependent on fossil fuels are not left behind.
In total, with its “Investment Plan for a Sustainable Europe,” up to 1,000 billion euros could be mobilized in the next ten years to support the transition of a continent where greenhouse gas emissions would be as low as possible. This would be through multiple sources of funding.
The Just Transition Fund would itself be endowed with 7.5 billion euros between 2021 and 2027 (the next multiannual budget of the European Union) in the Commission’s proposal.
The Fund is part of what the Commission more generally refers to as the “Just Transition Mechanism.” It is accompanied by other financing means, via investment programs of the Union but also the European Investment Bank (EIB), undergoing a transformation to become the EU’s “climate bank.”
Additional climate-related expenses will also be spread across various categories of the EU budget, for example, transport or agriculture, as well as private-public investments. The Commission wants a quarter of the multiannual budget expenses to be dedicated to this.
Support for nuclear?
The issue of support for nuclear energy, not yet fully settled within the EU as part of the reflection on the transition, will arise once again.
Far less greenhouse gas emitting than fossil energies, some member states like the Czech Republic or Hungary, but also France, have advocated for its inclusion in the energy mix.
