On Thursday 21 November, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič, signed an agreement with Greece and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the establishment of a national decarbonisation fund for the Greek islands of Naxos.
More than half of this fund, financed by the auctioning of 25 million allowances from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) valued at nearly €2 billion, will be used to invest in new renewable energy supply on the islands.
Around 40% of this fund will be earmarked for electricity grid interconnections. It will also be used to support infrastructure such as charging points for electric vehicles and to help adapt to climate change and extreme weather events.
According to Mr Šefčovič, “this is a great example of the opportunities created by carbon pricing to facilitate green investments”, highlighting that Greece has an ambitious portfolio of projects.
The agreement was co-signed by the Greek Minister for the Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakis, and EIB Vice-President Ioannis Tsakiris. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)