Europe has ambitions to become a global leader in the fight against climate breakdown. Transforming the continent’s energy systems and shifting towards climate-friendly alternatives requires massive investments, especially in central and eastern Europe, where outdated infrastructure and a reliance on fossil fuels persists.
The good news is that the EU has the financial means to fund this transformation. The challenge is ensuring that the investments of today are geared towards addressing the climate crisis and Europe’s declining state of nature.
We know that when people have a voice in investment decisions, the results speak for themselves: more acceptance and ownership of spending and a greater chance that harmful and wasteful projects are avoided.
We work to ensure that EU financial flows address the climate crisis and do no harm to people and nature. We do this by involving the public in the design and spending of EU investments.
IN FOCUS
Just transition
Countries across central and eastern Europe are committing to quit coal and shale oil. Now the task is to ensure that the just transition is driven from the bottom up and leaves no one behind as we move towards a sustainable energy future.
Building back biodiversity
Threats facing biodiversity are increasing alongside the drivers of the climate crisis. But investments in climate protection should not come at the expense of those that can help biodiversity. The two crises of climate and biodiversity are interconnected and both must be tackled together, because only by investing in nature can we tackle climate change.
RegENERate: Mobilising Regions for Energetic Re-development and Transformative NECPs
The overall objective of the project is to support the CEE countries’ contribution to the EU efforts towards a net-zero emissions future. The project will contribute to more ambitious and effective climate and energy policies in CEE, backed by a long-term commitment to phase out fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency and promote renewable energy.
RePower the Regions: Ambitious and inclusive clean energy plans for repowering the just transition regions
The participation and leadership of carbon-intensive regions in transitioning to clean energy solutions are prerequisites for achieving EU climate neutrality by 2050. Building on this premise, RePower the Regions aims to ensure that the regions’ clean energy plans are aligned with EU 2030 climate goals and have strong support locally, and to provide practical guidelines and roadmaps on how to repower the regions.
Latest news
New guidance released for Community-driven Green Deal Actions
Campaign update | 4 November, 2024Collecting experience from 24 local actions across Europe to highlight how communities can help advance European Green Deal objectives, a new guide presents concrete ideas on six different topics.
Read moreJobs after Coal: The Just Transition Fund makes its first major move in Poland
Blog entry | 18 October, 2024Launched in May 2024, the Jobs after Coal programme, a pioneering initiative funded by the Just Transition Fund, is designed to address the socio-economic challenges of transitioning away from coal in Eastern Wielkopolska.
Read moreEU hails benefits of multi-billion-euro environmental action
Bankwatch in the media | 11 October, 2024Five major environmental NGOs – WWF, BirdLife, the European Environmental Bureau, Euronatur and CEE Bankwatch – proposed just such a fund earlier this week, saying it would need an annual budget of between €15bn and €25bn to implement the NRL and operate the Natura 2000 network effectively.
Read moreRelated publications
Status of the Territorial Just Transition Plans in central and eastern Europe: December 2021 update
Briefing | 13 December, 2021 | Download PDFThis briefing, the fifth in our series on the Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs), provides an overview of the general Territorial Just Transition Plan progress in seven CEE countries: Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slov
EU funds should never harm nature, climate or the environment Statement of the Green 10 on the ‘do no significant harm’ principle
Advocacy letter | 18 November, 2021 | Download PDFThis statement, written together with the Green 10 and EuroNatur, outlines our main concerns about the application of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle to EU public funds. The EU intends to expand the application of this principle to a variety of
Briefing for the European Commission: the Polluter Pays Principle in the just transition process – diagnosis and recommendations
Briefing | 7 October, 2021 | Download PDFThe Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) is one of the biggest concerns in the implementation of just transition support. This Principle should ensure that polluters bear the costs of their pollution and are incentivised to avoid environmental damage. However