Photo: Prime Minister GR / X
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece would create a special fund for islands of up to EUR 2 billion for phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewables. The government also earmarked EUR 780 million for the protection of the seas.
Greece, which hosted this year’s Our Ocean Conference in Athens, will use proceedings from the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for a dedicated Decarbonization Fund for its islands. Prime Minister Kyriakos, who made the announcement in his speech at the event, said the scheme may reach EUR 2 billion.
The projects will primarily cover connecting Greek islands to the mainland electricity grid, for energy storage and renewables including offshore wind power and multipurpose water reservoirs, he revealed.
Fund could grow with prices of CO2 permits
Energypress learned from unnamed sources close to the cabinet that the funding was recently cleared with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. The people suggested that the plan could grow if the price of EU ETS allowances advance over the next two years.
The investments are envisaged to be completed by 2032, the article adds. The instrument is set to strengthen the GR-eco Islands initiative, so far encompassing pilot projects in Halki and Astypalaia, also written as Chalki and Astypalea. Poros island, located off the eastern tip of the Peloponnese and just south of Athens, recently entered the program, led by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. – Masdar.
“Greece has identified 21 actions enabled by EUR 780 million in secured funding, making what I believe is a significant down payment on the future health of our ocean,” Mitsotakis stated.
The instrument is for the protection of the country’s seas and sustainable so-called blue economy. He highlighted four actions.
Greece plans to impose the first bottom trawling ban in marine protected areas in Europe
“We will establish two additional marine national parks, one in the Ionian, one in the Aegean, increasing the size of our marine protected areas by 80% and covering about one third of our territorial marine waters. We will ban bottom trawling in our national marine parks by 2026 and in all marine protected areas by 2030. We will establish a state-of-the-art surveillance system, powered by drones, satellites and artificial intelligence, to effectively patrol these areas by 2026. And we will remove plastic litter in the water by 50%, and microplastic by 30% by 2030, relatively to 2019”, the prime minister asserted.
The marine parks proposal is mostly aimed at protecting marine mammals, birds and sea turtles. The ban on bottom trawling, a harmful fishing practice, would be the first in in marine protected areas in Europe.
Other measures include the prevention of collisions of marine mammals with ships and the promotion of sustainable tourism. The government is financing the construction of infrastructure in 12 ports to accommodate electrified coastal shipping.
Building low-carbon society of future
“No matter how fast we reduce emissions, we cannot outrun the climate crisis. Last year, Greece experienced our longest heatwave on record, followed by a mega forest fire in northeastern Greece, at the region of Evros, and then an unprecedented flood from Storm Daniel. All this happened in the span of a few weeks. The frequency and severity of extreme events is rising. So, as we build the low-carbon society of the future, we must also shore up the society of the present,” Mitsotakis told the delegates from 120 countries.
Nature needs space to heal, he stressed. In the prime minister’s words, the ocean is sending distress signals. “Long before we understood climate change, the ocean was already under attack from over-exploitation and from pollution,” he pointed out.
The event brought pledges of more than USD 10 billion, Mitsotakis said.
“The ocean has paid a heavy price for its service to humankind. It has been a vital source of life and livelihood. We have not been kind to it in return,” he added.
Separately, Mitsotakis estimated that this year 60% of electricity in Greece would come from renewable sources and that the share would reach 80% by the end of the decade. “After that, our aim is not only to be sufficient in clean and cheap energy, but also to export it,” he reiterated.
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