A new technical trilogue will take place on 18 January on the Social Climate Fund (SCF). As was the case last week (see EUROPE 13097/13), the final details of this Fund, which was the subject of a political agreement at the end of December, will be settled.
And the issue of the ‘emergency brake’ for the ETS 2 system, which would be postponed for one year, to 2028, and would put one year of funding for the Social Climate Fund on hold, will still be on the table.
Additionally, in the event of the postponement of ETS 2, the Fund would decrease from €65 billion to €55.6 billion over five years. In any case, positions differ on the extent of the problem.
The meeting should therefore provide clarity on how this financial ‘hole’ will be replaced, but also on the method of calculating ETS 2 revenues in subsequent years.
One of the options for calculating the revenues of the ETS 2, in case of a one-year postponement, could already lead to a possible shortfall of €1.6 billion for the Social Fund, from €55.6 to €54.1 billion.
For the contours of the Social Climate Fund to be fully defined, the Commission still needs to clarify the transfers of Cohesion Funds to the SCF or the concrete scenarios of the emergency brake of the ETS 2 on national social plans. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)