1.9.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 312/213
(30)
The Commission approved all Portugal's cohesion policy programming documents in 2022.
Proceeding with the swift implementation of the cohesion policy programmes in complementarity and synergy with the recovery and resilience plan, including the REPowerEU chapter, is key to achieving the green and digital transitions, increasing economic and social resilience, and achieving balanced territorial development in Portugal.
(31)
Beyond the economic and social challenges addressed by the recovery and resilience plan and cohesion policy programmes, Portugal faces a number of additional challenges related to the circular economy, energy and the green transition.
(32)
Portugal is far below the Union average in making progress towards a circular economy, in resource productivity in industries and with regard to waste management indicators, with marked regional differences.
The average municipal recycling rate is particularly low (30,5 % in 2021, far from the Union target of 50 % by 2020) and varies by region.
Achieving the Union targets for the next decade, including reaching 55 % recycling of municipal waste by 2025, will require significant efforts.
Improvements are needed to increase the prevention, minimisation, sorting, reuse and recycling of waste, in line with the higher steps in the waste hierarchy, thereby diverting waste away from landfills and incinerators, and to modernise waste recycling and treatment facilities.
Examples of how to better achieve those objectives include increasing landfill and incineration charges, introducing a residual waste tax and raising charges on municipalities that fail to meet recycling targets.
In addition, the process could be accelerated by extending the separate collection of waste and further developing schemes such as ‘pay-as-youthrow’, ‘deposit return’ and Extended Producer Responsibility.
(33)
Despite the progress made, including in the context of the energy crisis, Portugal remains highly dependent on imported fossil fuels, with oil and gas making up 45 % and 23 % respectively of its energy mix in 2021.
In addition, Portugal's high dependency on gas for electricity production poses risks in terms of security of supply, especially considering the scarcity of hydroelectric power due to more frequent droughts.
To accelerate the decarbonisation efforts, a number of measures could be further pursued that build on and go beyond the reforms and investments that are part of Portugal's recovery and resilience plan.
To accelerate the take-up of renewables, Portugal could follow up on the progress it made last year on streamlining its permitting process, including by increasing the capacity of the administration dealing with permitting, increasing digitalisation in renewables production and introducing more favourable spatial planning arrangements for offshore wind, the potential for which remains under-exploited.
Further action to promote self-consumption, including rooftop solar, and renewable energy communities would also be beneficial.
In spite of growth, the number of renewable energy communities in Portugal is still low, and there is scope to facilitate their licensing and to create incentives schemes.
(34)
As more renewables are integrated, further investment to expand the storage and network capacity will be essential to safeguard the balance of the electricity grid.
Portugal could benefit from strengthening its electricity interconnections, as the interconnection level with Spain is still low compared to its 2030 targets.
The status of the transmission and distribution grid could be improved through the reinforcement of the internal grid, additional investments in electricity storage and further digitalisation of the grid.
The relatively low roll-out of smart meters hampers the development of a decentralised system of renewable energy production.
To address its high degree of reliance on fossil fuels in buildings and reduce energy consumption, Portugal needs to accelerate its efforts on energy efficiency beyond what is set out in the Portuguese recovery and resilience plan and cohesion policy programmes.
Further measures should also contribute to addressing the high share of the Portuguese population experiencing energy poverty.
Stepping up efforts to incentivise deep renovations, including by delivering technical assistance to applicants, could accelerate the take-up of renovation projects.
In addition, Portugal could benefit from a strengthened framework for financial schemes to leverage private investment for energy-efficient renovation.
By doing so, Portugal could target more grant-based resources towards households in need.
Portugal's consumption of natural gas has dropped by 16 % in the period between August 2022 and March 2023, compared with the average gas consumption over the same period in the preceding five years, beyond the 15 % reduction target laid down in Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1369 (18).
Portugal could keep pursuing efforts to temporarily reduce gas demand until 31 March 2024 pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) 2023/706 (19).
(18) Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1369 of 5 August 2022 on coordinated demand-reduction measures for gas (OJ L 206, 8.8.2022, p. 1).
(19) Council Regulation (EU) 2023/706 of 30 March 2023 amending Regulation (EU) 2022/1369 as regards prolonging the demandreduction period for demand-reduction measures for gas and reinforcing the reporting and monitoring of their implementation (OJ L 93, 31.3.2023, p. 1).