The Cohesion Policy is part of the EU’s Regional Policy and has three objectives: Convergence, Regional Competitiveness and Employment, and European Territorial Cooperation. Within the framwork of these objectives the EU uses different Structural Funds and instruments. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) promotes regional development through investments in infrastructure and other measures.
The Operational Programmes (OP) present the priorities of the Member State and/or regions in line with the Cohesion Policy and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF). The German Federal Lands and the Federal Government each launched an OP (Lower Saxony two).
The Communication from the European Commission
The European Commission released a Communication on Cohesion Policy on the 16th of December 2008 (COM[2008] 876/3). Due to the combined efforts of AGFW and EHP District Heating, Energy Efficiency and Distributed Energy were highlighted as parts of the Cohesion Policy. According to the European Commission a focus on improving energy efficiency will help Europe to weather the current economic storm and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Member States are therefore encouraged to maximise their National and Regional Programmes accordingly. The European Commission proposes that the ERDF should allow support to energy efficiency improvements in housings in favour of low-income households in all Member States.
Impact of the Communication on Cohesion Policy
Cohesion Policy will devote EUR 4.8 billion to the development of renewable energies, including support for district heating and decentralised energy production for the period 2007-13. While additional funds are not being provided at this point, the commission does monitor the coherence between funding and the activities, policies and priorities of the EU. Their encouragements and proposals can thus have an influence on the structure of the NSRF and OP and lead to a regrouping of investments. AGFW will seize this opportunity to promote the interests of District Heating and Combined Heat and Power in the best way possible.
