The EU’s Corona pot contains billions – this is intended to promote the countries’ recovery from the pandemic and the green transition. According to auditors, the latter is going worse than claimed. (Image: dpa) (Patrick Pleul/dpa)
According to the EU Commission, the target that at least 37 percent of the funds from the multi-billion-euro funding pot called the Recovery and Resilience Facility (ARF) should be used for climate measures in EU countries has already been exceeded. However, some of the projects described as green, into which the funds managed by the Commission are to flow, have no direct connection to ecological change, criticize the Luxembourg-based auditors in a report.
In practice, the climate contribution of the measures is not always determined in detail. They also found that some measures were not as ecological as they seemed. Overall, the contribution of the ARF to climate policy and ecological transition is unclear.
The ARF, worth around 700 billion euros, was created in 2021 to deal with the economic damage caused by the corona pandemic. It runs until 2026.
Joint debts were taken out for the funding pot
One of the main goals is to support Europe’s climate goals and the ecological transition in the EU countries. The countries receive part of the money as grants that do not have to be repaid, and the rest as loans.
For this purpose, the EU took on joint debt on a large scale for the first time. In order to receive the aid, member states must present a plan with concrete investment and reform projects. The funds are performance-related and are to be paid when promised milestones and targets have been achieved.
According to the EU Commission, a good 42 percent of the funds have been earmarked for climate measures in the member states – around 275 billion euros. However, the auditors warn that this amount could be overestimated by at least 34.5 billion euros.
There are doubts as to whether all the money that has been earmarked for climate protection actually serves this goal. In their investigation, the auditors found that the climate contribution of the planned projects was in some cases overestimated.
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ARF could “significantly accelerate” the achievement of climate targets
“The RRF is a huge EU-wide investment and, if implemented correctly, should significantly accelerate the realization of the EU’s ambitious climate goals,” said Joëlle Elvinger of the Court of Auditors. However, the countries’ plans rely heavily on estimates, “there are differences between planning and practice and ultimately little indication of how much money is going directly into the ecological transition.” The Court of Auditors recommends that future EU instruments be more closely linked to the climate goals.
In response to the report from Luxembourg, the EU Commission denied that the amount mentioned for climate measures was several billion too high – the Court of Auditors had simply used a different calculation method. The method used by the Commission, however, is legally binding.
