Article 1 Subject matter and scope
This Regulation establishes the Just Transition Fund (JTF) to provide support to the people, economies and environment of territories which face serious socio-economic challenges deriving from the transition process towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate as defined in point (11) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 15 ) and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050. It lays down the specific objective of the JTF, its geographical coverage and resources, the scope of its support with regard to the Investment for jobs and growth goal referred to in point (a) of Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, as well as specific provisions for programming and indicators necessary for monitoring.
Article 2 Specific objective
In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the JTF shall contribute to the single specific objective of enabling regions and people to address the social, employment, economic and environmental impacts of the transition towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, based on the Paris Agreement.
Article 3 Geographical coverage and resources under the Investment for jobs and growth goal
1. The JTF shall support the Investment for jobs and growth goal in all Member States. 2. The resources for the JTF under the Investment for jobs and growth goal that are available for budgetary commitment for the period 2021-2027 shall be EUR 7 500 000 000 in 2018 prices as established in point (g) of Article 110(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 3. The resources referred to in paragraph 2 may be increased, as the case may be, by additional resources allocated in the Union budget, and by other resources in accordance with the applicable basic act. 4. The Commission shall adopt a decision, by means of an implementing act, setting out the annual breakdown of available resources, including any additional resources referred to in paragraph 3, by Member State in accordance with the allocations set out in Annex I.
Article 4 Resources from the European Union Recovery Instrument
1. The measures referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/2094 shall be implemented under this Regulation with an amount of EUR 10 000 000 000 in 2018 prices as referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 109(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and subject to Article 3(3), (4), (7) and (9) of Regulation (EU) 2020/2094. This amount shall be considered other resources as referred to in Article 3(3) of this Regulation. As provided for in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2020/2094, this amount shall constitute external assigned revenue for the purpose of Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation. 2. The amount referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be made available for budgetary commitment under the Investment for jobs and growth goal for the years 2021 to 2023, in addition to the resources referred to in Article 3, as follows: — 2021: EUR 2 000 000 000, — 2022: EUR 4 000 000 000, — 2023: EUR 4 000 000 000. An amount of EUR 15 600 000 in 2018 prices shall be made available for administrative expenditure from the resources referred to in the first subparagraph. 3. The annual breakdown of the amount referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article by Member States shall be included in the Commission decision referred to in Article 3(4) in accordance with the allocations set out in Annex I. 4. By way of derogation from Article 14(3) of the Financial Regulation, the decommitment rules set out in Chapter IV of Title VII of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 shall apply to the budgetary commitments based on the resources referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. By way of derogation from point (c) of Article 12(4) of the Financial Regulation, these resources shall not be used for a succeeding programme or action. 5. Payments to programmes shall be posted to the earliest open commitment of the JTF, starting first with the commitments from the resources referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 until they are exhausted.
Article 5 Green Rewarding Mechanism
1. Where, pursuant to Article 3(3), the resources for the JTF are increased before 31 December 2024, the additional resources shall be distributed among Member States on the basis of the national shares set out in Annex I. 2. Where, pursuant to Article 3(3) of this Regulation, the resources for the JTF are increased after 31 December 2024, the additional resources shall be distributed among Member States in accordance with the methodology laid down in the second subparagraph of this paragraph, on the basis of change of greenhouse gas emissions of their industrial facilities in the period from the year 2018 to the latest year for which data is available, as reported in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 16 ) . The change of greenhouse gas emissions of each Member State shall be calculated by aggregating the greenhouse gas emissions of only those NUTS level 3 regions that have been identified in the territorial just transition plans in accordance with Article 11(1) of this Regulation. The allocation of additional resources for each Member State shall be determined in accordance with the following: (a) for Member States that achieved a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by each Member State shall be calculated by expressing the level of greenhouse gas emissions of the latest reference year as a percentage of the greenhouse gas emissions observed in 2018; for Member States that have not achieved a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, that percentage shall be set at 100 %; (b) the final share for each Member State shall be obtained by dividing national shares set out in Annex I by the percentages resulting from point (a); and (c) the result from the calculation under point (b) shall be rescaled in order to sum up to 100 %. 3. Member States shall include the additional resources in their programmes and submit a programme amendment in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060
Article 6 Specific allocations for outermost regions and islands
When preparing their territorial just transition plans in accordance with Article 11(1), Member States shall take particular account of the situation of islands and outermost regions facing serious socio-economic challenges deriving from the transition process towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, having regard to their specific needs as recognised in Articles 174 and 349 TFEU. When including such territories in their territorial just transition plans, Member States shall set out the specific amount allocated for those territories with the corresponding justification, taking into account the specific challenges of those territories.
Article 7 Conditional access to resources
1. Where a Member State has not made a commitment to implement the objective of achieving a climate-neutral Union by 2050, only 50 % of the annual allocations for that Member State set out in accordance with Articles 3(4) and 4(3) shall be made available for programming and included in the priorities. By way of derogation from Article 10(1) of this Regulation, the remaining 50 % of the annual allocations shall not be included in the priorities. In such cases, the programmes supported from the JTF and submitted in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 shall include only 50 % of the annual JTF allocations in the table referred to in point (g)(ii) of Article 22(3) of that Regulation. The table referred to in point (g)(i) of Article 22(3) of that Regulation shall identify separately the allocations available for programming and those allocations that shall not be programmed. 2. The Commission shall only approve programmes containing a JTF priority, or any amendment thereto, where the requirements set out in the programmed allocation part in accordance with paragraph 1 are respected. 3. As soon as a Member State has committed to implement the objective of achieving a climate-neutral Union by 2050, it may submit a request for the amendment of each programme supported from the JTF in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and include the non-programmed allocations that have not been decommitted. 4. Budgetary commitments shall be made on the basis of the table referred to in point (g)(i) of Article 22(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The commitments related to the non-programmed allocations shall not be used for payments and shall not be included in the basis for the calculation of the pre-financing in accordance with Article 90 of that Regulation until they are made available for programming in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article. By way of derogation from Article 105 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, in the absence of the Member State’s commitment to implement the objective of achieving a climate-neutral Union by 2050 by 31 December of any given year starting from 2022, budgetary commitments for the preceding year which relate to non-programmed allocations shall be decommitted in their entirety in the following year.
Article 8 Scope of support
1. The JTF shall only support activities that are directly linked to its specific objective as set out in Article 2 and which contribute to the implementation of the territorial just transition plans established in accordance with Article 11. 2. In accordance with paragraph 1, the JTF shall exclusively support the following activities: (a) productive investments in SMEs, including microenterprises and start-ups, leading to economic diversification, modernisation and reconversion; (b) investments in the creation of new firms, including through business incubators and consulting services, leading to job creation; (c) investments in research and innovation activities, including by universities and public research organisations, and fostering the transfer of advanced technologies; (d) investments in the deployment of technology as well as in systems and infrastructures for affordable clean energy, including energy storage technologies, and in greenhouse gas emission reduction; (e) investments in renewable energy in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 17 ) , including the sustainability criteria set out therein, and in energy efficiency, including for the purposes of reducing energy poverty; (f) investments in smart and sustainable local mobility, including decarbonisation of the local transport sector and its infrastructure; (g) rehabilitation and upgrade of district heating networks with a view to improving energy efficiency of district heating systems and investments in heat production provided that the heat production installations are supplied exclusively by renewable energy sources; (h) investments in digitalisation, digital innovation and digital connectivity; (i) investments in regeneration and decontamination of brownfield sites, land restoration and including, where necessary, green infrastructure and repurposing projects, taking into account the ‘polluter pays’ principle; (j) investments in enhancing the circular economy, including through waste prevention, reduction, resource efficiency, reuse, repair and recycling; (k) upskilling and reskilling of workers and jobseekers; (l) job-search assistance to jobseekers; (m) active inclusion of jobseekers; (n) technical assistance; (o) other activities in the areas of education and social inclusion including, where duly justified, investments in infrastructure for the purposes of training centres, child- and elderly-care facilities as indicated in territorial just transition plans in accordance with Article 11. Additionally, the JTF may support, in areas designated as assisted areas for the purposes of points (a) and (c) of Article 107(3) TFEU, productive investments in enterprises other than SMEs, provided that such investments have been approved as part of the territorial just transition plan based on the information required under point (h) of Article 11(2) of this Regulation. Such investments shall only be eligible where they are necessary for the implementation of the territorial just transition plan, where they contribute to the transition to a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050 and to achieving related environmental targets, where their support is necessary for job creation in the identified territory, and where they do not lead to relocation as defined in point (27) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The JTF may also support investments to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC provided that such investments have been approved as part of the territorial just transition plan based on the information required under point (i) of Article 11(2) of this Regulation. Such investments shall only be eligible where they are necessary for the implementation of the territorial just transition plan.
Article 9 Exclusion from the scope of support
The JTF shall not support: (a) the decommissioning or the construction of nuclear power stations; (b) the manufacturing, processing and marketing of tobacco and tobacco products; (c) an undertaking in difficulty, as defined in point (18) of Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 ( 18 ) , unless authorised under temporary State aid rules established to address exceptional circumstances or under de minimis aid to support investments reducing energy costs in the context of the energy transition process; (d) investment related to the production, processing, transport, distribution, storage or combustion of fossil fuels.
Article 10 Programming of the JTF resources
1. The JTF resources shall be programmed for the categories of regions where the territories concerned are located, on the basis of territorial just transition plans established in accordance with Article 11 and approved by the Commission as part of a programme or a programme amendment. The resources programmed shall take the form of one or more specific programmes or of one or more priorities within programmes. The Commission shall only approve a programme, or any amendment thereto, where the identification of the territories most negatively affected by the transition process, contained within the relevant territorial just transition plan, is duly justified and the relevant territorial just transition plan is consistent with the integrated national energy and climate plan of the Member State concerned. 2. A JTF priority or priorities shall comprise the JTF resources consisting of all or part of the JTF allocation for the Member States and the resources transferred in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The total of the ERDF and ESF+ resources transferred to the JTF shall not exceed three times the amount of support from the JTF to that priority excluding the resources referred to in Article 4(1) of this Regulation. 3. In accordance with Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the co-financing rate, applicable to the region where the territory or territories identified in the territorial just transition plans in accordance with Article 11 of this Regulation are located, for the JTF priority or priorities shall not be higher than: (a) 85 % for less developed regions; (b) 70 % for transition regions; (c) 50 % for more developed regions.
Article 11 Territorial just transition plans
1. Member States shall prepare, together with the relevant local and regional authorities of the territories concerned, one or more territorial just transition plans covering one or more affected territories corresponding to NUTS level 3 regions or parts thereof, in accordance with the template set out in Annex II. Those territories shall be those most negatively affected, based on the economic and social impacts resulting from the transition, in particular with regard to the expected adaptation of workers or job losses in fossil fuel production and use and the transformation needs of the production processes of industrial facilities with the highest greenhouse gas intensity. 2. A territorial just transition plan shall contain the following elements: (a) a description of the transition process at national level towards a climate-neutral economy, including a timeline of the key transition steps towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050 which are consistent with the latest version of the integrated national energy and climate plan; (b) a justification for identifying the territories as most negatively affected by the transition process referred to in point (a) of this paragraph and to be supported by the JTF, in accordance with paragraph 1; (c) an assessment of the transition challenges faced by the identified most negatively affected territories, including the social, economic, and environmental impact of the transition to a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, identifying the potential number of affected jobs and job losses, the depopulation risks, and the development needs and objectives, to be reached by 2030 and linked to the transformation or closure of greenhouse gas-intensive activities in those territories; (d) a description of the expected contribution of the JTF support to addressing the social, demographic, economic, health and environmental impacts of the transition to a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, including the expected contribution in terms of job creation and preservation; (e) an assessment of its consistency with other relevant national, regional or territorial strategies and plans; (f) a description of the governance mechanisms consisting of the partnership arrangements, the monitoring and evaluation measures planned and the responsible bodies; (g) a description of the type of operations envisaged and their expected contribution to alleviating the impact of the transition; (h) where support is to be provided to productive investments in enterprises other than SMEs, an indicative list of operations and enterprises to be supported and a justification of the necessity of such support through a gap analysis demonstrating that the expected job losses would exceed the expected number of jobs created in the absence of the investment; (i) where support is to be provided to investments to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC, a list of operations to be supported and a justification that they contribute to a transition to a climate-neutral economy and lead to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions going substantially below the relevant benchmarks established for free allocation under Directive 2003/87/EC and provided that these operations are necessary for the protection of a significant number of jobs; (j) synergies and complementarities with other relevant Union programmes to address identified development needs; and (k) synergies and complementarities with planned support from the other pillars of the Just Transition Mechanism. 3. The preparation and implementation of territorial just transition plans shall involve the relevant partners in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and, where relevant, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund. 4. Territorial just transition plans shall be consistent with the relevant territorial strategies referred to in Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and relevant smart specialisation strategies, the integrated national energy and climate plans and the European Pillar of Social Rights. Where the update of an integrated national energy and climate plan pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 necessitates a revision of a territorial just transition plan, that revision shall be carried out as part of the mid-term review in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. 5. Where Member States intend to make use of the possibility to receive support under the other pillars of the Just Transition Mechanism, their territorial just transition plans shall set out the sectors and thematic areas envisaged to be supported under those pillars.
Article 12 Indicators
1. Common output and result indicators, as set out in Annex III and, where duly justified in the territorial just transition plan, programme-specific output and result indicators shall be used in accordance with point (a) of the second subparagraph of Article 16(1), point (d)(ii) of Article 22(3) and point (b) of Article 42(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. 2. For output indicators, baselines shall be set at zero. The milestones set for 2024 and targets set for 2029 shall be cumulative. Targets shall not be revised after the request for programme amendment, submitted pursuant to Article 18(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, has been approved by the Commission. 3. Where a JTF priority supports the activities referred to in points (k), (l) or (m) of Article 8(2), data on the indicators for participants shall only be transmitted where all the data relating to that participant, required in accordance with Annex III, are available.
Article 13 Financial corrections
Based on the examination of the final performance report of the programme, the Commission may make financial corrections in accordance with Article 104 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 where less than 65 % of the target set out for one or more output indicators is achieved. Financial corrections shall be in proportion to the achievements and shall not be applied where the failure to achieve targets is due to the impact of socio-economic or environmental factors, significant changes in the economic or environmental conditions in the Member State concerned or because of reasons of force majeure seriously affecting implementation of the priorities concerned.
Article 14 Review
By 30 June 2025, the Commission shall review the implementation of the JTF with regard to the specific objective set out in Article 2, taking into account possible changes in Regulation (EU) 2020/852 and the Union’s climate objectives set out in a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (‘European Climate Law’), and the evolution in the implementation of the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan. On that basis, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, which may be accompanied by legislative proposals.
Article 15 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .