European Union countries and the European Parliament reached an agreement at dawn this Wednesday to allocate an additional 20,000m euros in investment subsidies to accelerate the climate transition. and reduce Russia’s dependence on fossil fuels. Approximately 2,600 million of these new resources will correspond to Spain.As part of the Repower EU plan, presented by the European Commission after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, which requires Member States to update their recovery plans with new chapters through climate initiatives.
“We have an agreement on RepowerEU, the tool to finance Russia’s green energy transition and energy independence. Determination and ambition,” Eider Gardiazábal, Spanish MP, one of those in charge of legislation in the European Parliament, said on Twitter. after a “long night” to close a “very important negotiation”.
The additional €20 billion direct transfer will come from the advance sale of emissions allowances, 60% from the EU Innovation Fund and 40% from the CO2 emissions trading system. (ETS system) and not exercising the rights in the reserve of this mechanism, as originally proposed by Brussels.
These resources will be allocated taking into account the dependence of States on fossil fuels and the rise in investment prices, in line with the position determined by the Council (countries) in October, the agency reported today.
This distribution key provides an allocation of approximately €2,600 million for Spain, the third largest beneficiary of these new funds. To this he can add the corresponding EUR 7,700 million in direct assistance for the final calculation of the recovery fund and the EUR 85,000 million loan he may request from him to encourage these investments.
Lawmakers also introduced incentives for states to apply for bailout grants to fund RepowerEU, allowing them to exceed the threshold of 6.8% of gross national income under certain conditions, and countries that did not use all compliance donations for the period 2014-2020, from the rise in energy prices. can use it to support affected SMEs and vulnerable households.
Improvement of energy efficiency and decarbonization
The purpose of the law is Increasing the EU’s resilience by reducing its dependence on fossil fuels and diversifying its supplyin particular by increasing the share of renewable energy, storage capacity and efficiency.
For this, countries will have to include new Repower chapters in their recovery plans, which may include, in addition to new measures, actions adopted from 1 February 2022, as requested by the European Parliament. Possibility of states requesting an advance of 20% of their donation.
The agreement, among others, ensures that reforms and investments in these chapters improving the energy efficiency of buildings and critical infrastructures, decarbonizing industry, producing biomethane and green hydrogen, deploying renewable resources or upgrading energy infrastructures, including liquefied natural gas.
States that receive an exemption because of their geographic location can also fund measures against energy poverty, encourage consumption reduction, enhance cross-border energy transmission, or support zero-emission infrastructure such as railroad oil infrastructure funds as “urgent needs for security of supply.”
For the measure to enter into force, it must be formally re-approved by both the European Parliament and the Council.