Alueellinen yhteenkuuluvuuspolitiikka ja EU:n talousarvio -valiokunta

Oikeudenmukainen ja kestävä siirtymä hiili- ja energiaintensiivisillä alueilla

Opinion factsheet

Tällä sivulla

  • Koheesiopolitiikka
  • ilmastonmuutos ja energia
  • Energiasiirtymä
  • Euroopan vihreän kehityksen ohjelma

Objective

The opinion is a referral from the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU and has as a main objective to deliver politically validated feedback from Europe's local and regional authorities (LRA) on the implementation of the Just Transition Fund
The opinion aims to identify best practices but also bottlenecks for LRA and outline first ideas for the JTF 2.0 beyond 2027
The objective of the CoR with this opinion is to request a stronger role of LRA in the development and preparatory phase, timely improved implementation process and to achieve a long-term planning horizons for investments in the transition of coal and energy intensive regions

Impact

• Major support for CoR's work on Just Transition came from European Parliament's "REPORT on economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU: the 8th Cohesion Report" which "calls on the Commission to draw lessons from the implementation of the JTF; asks for a new fund, JTF II, to be established in the post-2027 programming period on NUTS 3 level, with a revised allocation method; believes that the fund should be fully integrated into the CPR", fully in line with CoR's requests. The involvement of the regions in the context of the JTF was mentioned in the Council Conclusions on Cohesion Policy (P.30), a small but important element resulting from CoR's cooperation with the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Essential points

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

- welcomes the mission of a climate-neutral European Union by 2050, which will require a digital and green transition in Europe's municipalities and regions that will fundamentally affect the way people work and live;

- underlines that the changing world landscape led to an energy crisis, which forced some Member States to temporarily find flexible regional solutions to meet the programme's objectives;

- points out that the JTF programme planning should be stepped up in order to mobilise funding in a timely manner. If the JTF programme is not up and running in 2022, there is a risk of losing the full year allocation of 25% of the available funds;

- stresses that the European Commission should, in a timely manner, put forward the necessary proposals for the continuity of JTF programme planning; urges the co-legislator to properly involve regions in the future JTF programme;

- concludes that it is essential for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be incorporated into the implementation of all instruments. Regionally, the search for the most suitable and effective means will only succeed when regions and cities are genuinely involved in all stages of planning and implementation.

Timeline