On Thursday 9 July, the European Commission adopted the operating rules for the Modernisation Fund set up under the revised Directive (2018/410) on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) (see EUROPE 11955/6).
The financing facility, which is to be established for the period 2021-2030, is intended to modernise the energy systems of Member States whose per capita GDP at market prices in 2013 was less than 60% of the EU average, and to improve energy efficiency.
Ten countries will benefit from the Fund: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Each of them will be able to determine their own investment strategy in the areas covered by the Fund including: production and use of energy from renewable sources; energy efficiency; energy storage; modernisation of energy networks; redeployment, retraining and upgrading of workers.
In terms of financing capacity, the Fund will allocate around €14 billion from the auctioning of ETS allowances, with each beneficiary Member State having its own share of allowances to use.
It will be operational in January 2021. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)