European flags fly in front of the headquarters of the European Commission. (picture alliance / dpa)
The European Commission has drawn up a list of EU regions most in need of funds to mitigate the social impact of cleaning up emissions-intensive industries, it announced on Wednesday, as part of a bid to achieve net carbon-neutrality.
Some 100 out of 1,200 EU regions - in both richer and poorer member states - face particularly high costs and risks to employment security as they move away from high-carbon activities or fossil fuels, according to an EU official.
Among those earmarked by the commission to receive a share of the projected total of 100 billion euros (109 billion dollars) are Denmark's cement-producing Northern Jutland and Italy's Taranto - home to one of Europe's largest steel mills and a large coal-fired power plant.
Many regions dependent on coal-mining or burning including several parts of Poland, Greece's Western Macedonia and Bulgaria's Maritsa are also named by the commission.
Ultimately, however, it is up to the 27 member states to decide how to distribute their chunk of transition funds within their country.
The money from the Just Transition Fund should help re-skill or retrain workers, diversify the economy, rehabilitate the environment, or assist businesses to shrink their carbon footprints.
Only 7.5 billion euros of the fund is to come from the European Union's next long-term budget, which is yet to be approved, while the rest is to come from public funds, including national co-financing, and private finance.
The EU executive drew up the plans based on areas' concentration of carbon-intensive activities, taking account of their needs, means and vulnerabilities.
The suggested country allocations were published last month, with coal-dependent Poland and heavily industrialized Germany due to get the biggest tranches of 2 billion and 877 million euros.
EU officials are now to enter into consultations with the member states, though no money could be doled out until at least 2021 when the new budget period begins, assuming that there are no delays in the long-term spending plan.
Warsaw was the only EU capital that refused to sign up to the bloc's 2050 climate neutrality goal when it was adopted last year, saying it needed assurances of EU help with its transition before it could get on board.
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