Environment and Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis spoke on Thursday about the significant economic and environmental benefits for the Greek islands from the creation of the Decarbonization Fund for the Islands, leveraging investments of 3.8 billion euros.
Endowed with 25 million CO2 emission rights from the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions trading system, which at current prices are valued at 1.6 billion euros, the Islands Decarbonization Fund is set to get to work, leveraging investments of €3.8 billion for the 2025-2032 period.
The fund’s available resources, if the forecasts for the increase in the price of rights in the next two years, when they will be auctioned, are taken into account, could reach almost €3 billion, raising the total investments respectively to over €7 billion.
The establishment of the fund proceeded with the signing of a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank on Thursday on Naxos, in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The fund will finance sustainable investments to strengthen the energy autonomy of the islands by creating more resilient infrastructure, sustainable water management, promoting electromobility and the green transformation of agriculture, tourism and shipping.
At least half of the fund’s total budget concerns development and storage projects on the islands. Eligible projects include small investments aimed at self-consumption of homes and businesses, as well as larger ones, such as hybrid energy production systems that combine RES with storage systems. Emphasis is also placed on financing the development of offshore wind farms.
The second pillar of actions to be financed concerns the electrical interconnection of islands, including the linkup of the Dodecanese. At the same time, the completion of individual interconnections in the Cyclades is being accelerated.
The third pillar will allocate resources for the development of cold-ironing systems in ports, with the aim of supplying ships with electricity while they remain in port, and for the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Other important projects concern the construction of reservoirs on islands, which simultaneously aim at both electricity generation and storage as well as better management of water reserves. The Strategic Contracts Unit of TAIPED will manage the projects.