Portugal makes little use of EU funds for climate action
Only 7.7% of the regional and cohesion funds from which Portugal benefited were applied to climate action. European countries "have been slow" in supporting their climate commitments with these funds.
Portugal used only 7.7% of regional and cohesion funds for climate action, indicates a report by the Life Unify project, which brings together a dozen European organizations.
The report “Climate and energy transition: the untapped potential of EU funds” indicates that EU countries make little use of regional development funds to accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality.
The Life Unify project is designed to monitor the implementation of the national energy and climate plans of 10 EU countries, one of them Portugal, and runs until August 2022. It aims to show the potential and increase the countries’ climate ambition, being financed by the EU’s Life programme and coordinated by the European Climate Action Network.
The document, cited in a statement by environmentalist organization Zero, one of the organizations of the Life Unify project (which should be applied in the future in all Member States), states that countries should “make climate action a priority”, to recover environmentally and economically.
It says that states “have been slow” to “support their climate commitments with European funds” and that they have only mobilized 9.7% of the EU Cohesion and Regional Development Funds for the 2014-2020 period to finance clean energy infrastructures.
“This makes it necessary for countries to urgently review how they spend the future EU budget for 2021-2027,” the communiqué said.
The report also shows that Portugal has been the user of cohesion policy funds with the highest percentage going to investments in public infrastructure (around 85% of funds). But it only used 7.7% of the funds for investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and research and innovation.
Portugal must continue to invest in renewable energies, electrical mobility, adaptation to climate change and the circular economy.
A correct application of the funds, even taking into account the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, may generate more distributed work, and for more economic agents.
Francisco Ferreira, president of Zero, states that if Portugal directs more EU funds to climate action “it is the best way to boost economic recovery”.
In the same vein, Marcus Trilling, coordinator of policies and subsidies of the European Climate Action Network, states: “Targeted investments in the fight against climate change would contribute to European recovery”.
The authors of the report say that the EU budget for 2021-27 should increase the focus on climate action much more than today, devoting 40% to action in this area.
