Cohesion policy – opportunities for low-carbon economy Photo credit: Kheng Guan Toh Dr. Gergana Miladinova European Commission - DG REGIO Team Leader 'Sustainable Growth' Unit G1 – Competence Centre 'Smart & Sustainable Growth'

Cohesion Policy Mission: Reduce disparities between Europe's regions strengthening economic, social and terrritorial cohesion Contribute to Europe's smart, sustainable and inclusive growth Aimed at better performance and impact: Thematic concentration of funds: 11 thematic objectives linked to key growth areas Ex-ante conditionalities and performance orientation Reinforced partnership Increased synergies between the funds and increased use of financial instruments

Regional Policy 3 1.Research & innovation 2.Information and communication technologies (ICT) 3.Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises 4.Shift towards a low-carbon economy 5.Climate change adaptation & risk management and prevention 6.Environmental protection & resource efficiency 7.Sustainable transport & removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructures 8.Employment & support for labour mobility 9.Social inclusion & combating poverty 10. Education, skills & lifelong learning 11. Institutional capacity building & efficient public administration Smart Growth Sustainable Growth Inclusive Growth Translated into Fund-specific investment priorities 11 Thematic Objectives

Regional Policy Doubling of low-carbon economy investments

Regional Policy EMA Network of Energy and Managing Authorities and ENEA-MA Network of Environmental and Managing Authorities Smart Specialisation Platform, including on Energy Advisory platform for financial instruments: fi- compass Off-the-shelf financial instruments, including 'Renovation loan' Administrative capacity support Guidance documents, workshops RegioStars Awards and Regio OpenDays …… Support available

6 Many good examples: Boosting resource efficiency in SMEs North-West England business support scheme ‘Enworks’: set up in 2001, programme value of € 14.8 M with € 7.3 M ERDF Helped over 10,000 businesses with converting environmental pressures into competitive advantages:  £122 million (€145m) in saved business costs or savings of €25,107 per business per year  £223 million (€256m) sales contracts secured and retained More than 7,420 regional jobs created and safeguarded Beneficial for the environment, e.g. savings of:  681,000 tonnes of CO2 eq and 4.7 million m3 of water  3 million tonnes of materials  388,000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill Winner of the 2013 'Regio Stars Awards'

Regional Policy Conclusion The new offers strongly reinforced opportunities for putting our economies into the low-carbon path All of us together need to work to seize these opportunities Governance is key: need for cross-cutting approaches and engagement of all stakeholders │ 7

Regional Policy More information Thematic Guidance on Cohesion Policy investments in the shift towards a low-carbon economy and Guidance on Financial Instruments in Cohesion Policy : Financing the energy renovation of buildings with Cohesion Policy funding – Technical Guidance: renovation-of-buildings-with-cohesion-policy-funding Smart Specialisation Platform: Guide "Connecting Smart and Sustainable Growth through Smart Specialisation": Standard terms and conditions for financial instruments ('off the shelf'), including 'Renovation loan': Commission Staff Working Document – Financial Instruments in Cohesion Policy: Financial Instruments: A Stock-taking Exercise in Preparation for the Programming Period: stock-taking-exercise-in-preparation-for-the programming-period fi-compass advisory platform for financial instruments: Expert Evaluation Network reports on renewable energy and energy efficiency in housing: renewable-energies-and-energy-efficiency-of-housing Cohesion Policy Project Examples: Intelligent Energy Europe Projects: