Brussels, 10 March 2009 – The European Commission announced yesterday (9 March 2009) that €105 billion will be invested in greening the economy, particularly boosting the sector of environmental technologies, through the EU Cohesion Policy.
The Cohesion Policy is contributing with €3 billion to the promotion of environmentally-friendly products and production processes and overall investment in eco-innovation, especially in SMEs, will rank high in the priorities for support to the regions. A large part of the envelope (€54 billion) is designed to help Member States comply with EU environmental legislation e.s. improvement of water and waste management and other investments that will also contribute to creating a consistent handful of jobs in the EU.
These figures represent more than 30 per cent of the regional policy budget for the period 2007-13, and is about three times the amount allocated for similar projects in the previous 2000-06 budget period, the European Commission says.