Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to announce today from the Our Ocean Conference the establishment of the Island Decarbonization Fund, securing European funding.

This is a mega project that has been in the works for a long time at the Ministry of Environment and aims to “green” the islands. Some time ago, the Greek plan received the green light from the European Commission’s DG Clima.

The idea is relatively simple: Greece asks the Commission to auction off around 25 million unused pollution rights, valued at between 1.8 and 2 billion euros, to be directed towards actions to “green” the Greek islands. There will be no pilot program first, but rather a horizontal application with actions covering the entire map of the Greek islands.

Some actions that can be supported with funds from the Fund include changing the energy model on islands not connected to the mainland Greece’s electricity transmission system, altering the energy production mix with renewable energy sources (RES) and energy storage. There will also be energy efficiency programs for the islands.

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The Fund has been established as a legal entity since 2021, but awaited the European green light, which is now given. The country submits a specific action plan, and disbursements will be made based on it.