- The grants come from the Climate Fund of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which is funded by the CO2 tax on vehicles and facilities with an environmental impact
- Eighty million euros will be invested over the next four years to enable municipal councils, regional councils, local consortia, decentralised municipal institutions and municipal associations to carry out projects to reduce emissions and reduce vulnerability
These grants amount to 35 million euros from the Climate Fund for the 2023-2024-2025 period, funded by 50% of the revenue from the CO2 emissions tax on motor vehicles, and 20% of the revenue from the tax on facilities with an environmental impact.
Reducing emissions and vulnerability
The actions eligible under the terms of this call for proposals for the current two-year period include the implementation of projects to:
- Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising as a result of mobility.
- Produce geothermal energy to reduce diffuse GHG emissions.
- Improve the efficiency of municipal water supply networks and/or the use of non-conventional water resources for non-potable uses in municipal facilities.
- Reduce vulnerability in people’s health, by means of intervention in public spaces, with the aim of mitigating the effects of urban heat islands in the areas of housing, health and urban planning. This also includes interventions to adapt public buildings to prevent overheating and improve energy efficiency.
- Protect the population against the increased risk of extreme weather events by applying nature-based solutions to risk prevention in urban and peri-urban areas; adapting facilities so that they can act as climate shelters for public use; and procuring and installing early warning systems for floods.
A flood of applications
These grants complement the range of subsidies enabling local authorities to tackle climate change amounting to 40 million euros between 2023 and 2025. It was launched last March, with the announcement of calls amounting to 5 million euros. The call received a great deal of applicants, and 432 local authorities from all the regions in Catalonia submitted 585 applications for a total grant amount of more than 11 million euros. After they have been assessed, an application will be made to the Climate Fund Commission for an extension of the budget in order to fund the large number of projects submitted.
Compliance with the Paris Accords
The new call for grants is consistent with the goal of accelerating projects enabling the country to fulfil the commitment made in the Paris Accords to reduce GHG emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (and by 1.5 degrees if possible) by the end of the century, and to adapt rapidly to the impacts of climate change which are now unavoidable, despite mitigation measures.
The Government of Catalonia aims to allocate 80 million euros by 2026 to work with municipal councils, regional councils, local consortia, decentralised municipal institutions and municipal associations to carry out mitigation and adaptation projects.