25.05.2021.
The minister of economy and sustainable development, Tomislav Ćorić, PhD, and the director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Siniša Kukić, presented today the programmes the Fund will implement during 2021. It is planned to launch 22 public calls for co-financing the projects of local units, economic operators, and citizens, amounting to a total of HRK 925 million of grant funding.“This year will see a series of calls for proposals, and until the end of 2024, we can expect that just through the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund these calls will total almost 3 billion kunas. And a substantial part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan falls under the scope of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development,” said Minister Ćorić. He pointed out that all efforts were to be devoted to strengthening the competitiveness of our companies, micro and SMEs.
Siniša Kukić, the director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, emphasised that the budget for 2021 was significantly higher than last year’s, when beneficiaries were granted HRK 616 million. “Considering the aims that the Republic of Croatia has set in the climate and energy policy, and the comprehensive environmental protection policy, the Fund’s resources will be invested in projects that will contribute to the achievement of these goals,“ explained Kukić.
Considerable progress in waste management was made in the segment of separate waste collection, greatly facilitated by the 1.2 million kunas-worth containers financed from the EU funds, which were supplied to the towns and municipalities by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Fund. It is expected that until the end of summer all planned containers will have been delivered. Parallel with this and the waste management programmes co-financed from EU funds under the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion, some 10 days ago the Fund launched 5 national public calls worth more than 100 million kunas. They are aimed at co-financing remediation of dumpsites, transport of waste from the islands to the mainland, and purchase of municipal equipment such as garden and home (indoor) composters, underground and semi-buried containers, and containers for the separate collection of household oil. Moreover, the funds are also available for the construction of civic amenity sites (recycling yards), and the call was addressed to the local units to probe into the interest to upgrade and expand the local waste recycling capacities.
In the pipeline are the calls for proposals for the projects that will be implemented by civil society organisations, and public calls for developing energy and climate sustainability action plans, LIFE programme projects, and purchase of energy efficient municipal vehicles and vessels. This year, the Fund has provided the total of HRK 157 million for 11 programmes in the field of environmental protection.
“In early June we will launch the public call for co-financing the purchase of energy efficient vehicles, for which we have significantly increased the funding and now it amounts to 105 million kunas, of which 90 million is allocated to the citizens and companies, and 15 million to the units of local self-government and public institutions. We have also consulted the interested public and modified the application model accordingly, so the incentives will no longer be granted based on the “fastest finger” model, instead the applications will be submitted through distributors and car dealerships,” announced Kukić, adding that he was convinced that model would ensure the approved funding would be used up in better way, because in the previous year the final realisation did not correspond to the amount approved.
The citizens are most certainly expecting the public call for the energy renovation of family houses, which is planned to be launched after the summer. Last year the approved funding amounted to HRK 200 million for the renovation of 3145 family houses. This year, the budget for this programme has been increased to a total of HRK 400m, of which 100 million is earmarked solely for the renovation of houses that suffered damage in the earthquake.
The use of renewable energy sources will be promoted as part of the energy renovation programme, but a separate public call worth HRK 71 million is also planned. In addition, in compliance with the European policies for the development of the islands, 11 million kunas has been earmarked for their energy transition, meaning that when all is summed up, as much as HRK 768 million has been provided in this year alone.
“Our goal is to create an environment that will encourage our citizens to commit to the use of new, green technologies, and our companies to transition to low-carbon and sustainable economy,” concluded Kukić.
Direktor Fonda Siniša Kukić i dr. sc. Tomislav Ćorić, ministar gospodarstva i održivog razvoja
