Cohesion policy – opportunities for low-carbon economy 2014-2020

Photo credit: Kheng Guan Toh

Dr. Gergana MiladinovaEuropean Commission - DG REGIOTeam Leader 'Sustainable Growth'Unit G1 – Competence Centre 'Smart & Sustainable Growth'

Cohesion Policy 2014-2020

• Mission:

• Reduce disparities between Europe's regions strengthening economic, social and terrritorial cohesion

• Contribute to Europe's smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

• Aimed at better performance and impact:

• Thematic concentration of funds: 11 thematic objectives linked to key growth areas

• Ex-ante conditionalities and performance orientation

• Reinforced partnership

• Increased synergies between the funds and increased use of financial instruments

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1.Research & innovation2.Information and communication technologies (ICT)3.Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

4. Shift towards a low-carbon economy5. Climate change adaptation & risk management and prevention6. Environmental protection & resource efficiency7. Sustainable transport & removing bottlenecks in key network

infrastructures

8. Employment & support for labour mobility

9. Social inclusion & combating poverty

10. Education, skills & lifelong learning

11. Institutional capacity building & efficient public administration

Smart Growth

Sustainable Growth

Inclusive Growth

Translated into Fund-specific investment priorities

11 Thematic Objectives

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Doubling of low-carbon economy investments

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• EMA Network of Energy and Managing Authorities and ENEA-MA Network of Environmental and Managing Authorities

• Smart Specialisation Platform, including on Energy

• Advisory platform for financial instruments: fi-compass

• Off-the-shelf financial instruments, including 'Renovation loan'

• Administrative capacity support

• Guidance documents, workshops

• RegioStars Awards and Regio OpenDays

• ……

Support available

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Many good examples:Boosting resource efficiency in SMEs

• North-West England business support scheme ‘Enworks’: set up in 2001, 2007-13 programme value of € 14.8 M with € 7.3 M ERDF

• Helped over 10,000 businesses with converting environmental pressures into competitive advantages: £122 million (€145m) in saved business costs or savings of €25,107 per

business per year £223 million (€256m) sales contracts secured and retained

• More than 7,420 regional jobs created and safeguarded

• Beneficial for the environment, e.g. savings of: 681,000 tonnes of CO2 eq and 4.7 million m3 of water 3 million tonnes of materials 388,000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill

• Winner of the 2013 'Regio Stars Awards'

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Conclusion

• The new 2014-2020 offers strongly reinforced opportunities for putting our economies into the low-carbon path

• All of us together need to work to seize these opportunities

• Governance is key: need for cross-cutting approaches and engagement of all stakeholders

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More informationThematic Guidance on Cohesion Policy investments in the shift towards a low-carbon economy and

Guidance on Financial Instruments in Cohesion Policy 2014-2020:http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/information/legislation/guidance/

Financing the energy renovation of buildings with Cohesion Policy funding – Technical Guidance:http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/information/publications/guides/2014/financing-the-energy-

renovation-of-buildings-with-cohesion-policy-fundingSmart Specialisation Platform:

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/homeGuide "Connecting Smart and Sustainable Growth through Smart Specialisation":

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/10157/0/greengrowth.pdfStandard terms and conditions for financial instruments ('off the shelf') , including 'Renovation loan':

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.271.01.0016.01.ENGCommission Staff Working Document – Financial Instruments in Cohesion Policy:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/communic/financial/financial_instruments_2012_en.pdf

Financial Instruments: A Stock-taking Exercise in Preparation for the 2014-2020 Programming Period:http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/information/publications/reports/2013/financial-instruments-a-

stock-taking-exercise-in-preparation-for-the-2014-2020-programming-periodfi-compass advisory platform for financial instruments:

http://www.fi-compass.eu/Expert Evaluation Network reports on renewable energy and energy efficiency in housing:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/information/publications/evaluations/2011/synthesis-report-on-renewable-energies-and-energy-efficiency-of-housing

Cohesion Policy Project Examples:http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/indexes/project_examples_en.cfm

Intelligent Energy Europe Projects:http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/?/page/Page.jsp