The European Commission (EC) has endorsed the national recovery and resilience plans of France, Italy and Germany, which have devoted between 37% and 46% of their total budgets to measures supporting climate goals.
The EC has made available to member states a EUR-672.5-billion (USD 802.9bn) package of grants and loans to help them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic through social and economic reforms that promote the green and digital transitions. The Recovery and Resilience Facility includes up to EUR 312.5 billion in grants and up to EUR 360 billion in loans.
FRANCE
The EU is set to disburse EUR 39.4 billion in grants to France to “relaunch its economy after the pandemic on a stronger and more sustainable basis.” The country’s national plan dedicates 46% of its total budget to initiatives in line with climate objectives, such as the decarbonisation of industrial processes and energy renovation, as well as research into the field of green technologies promoting the deployment of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen. Around 21% of the plan's total allocation (EUR 385 million) is set aside for measures related to the digital transition.
ITALY
A positive assessment has also been given to Italy’s plan, through which it can get EUR 68.9 billion in grants and EUR 122.6 billion in loans. The measures the country has outlined include investments worth EUR 12.1 billion for improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings and EUR 32.1 billion for sustainable mobility. Around 37% of the total expenditure is intended to go for climate-related initiatives and measures supporting the development of renewable energy projects and hydrogen deployment.
GERMANY
Some EUR 25.6 billion in grants are to be disbursed to Germany where the plan calls for allocating at least 42% of the total budget to climate initiatives, including industry decarbonisation, renewable hydrogen production and sustainable mobility. Through seven major areas, it envisages providing EUR 2.5 billion for energy efficiency renovation of buildings and the same amount for the adoption of electric cars. EUR 1.5 billion is earmarked for green hydrogen projects.
The EC also recently endorsed the recovery and resilience plans of Belgium, Latvia, Austria and other member states.
(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.194)
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European Commission. Author: Sébastien Bertrand. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.
