From 1 January 2028, the European Union will manage a new budget through the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The European Commission has proposed merging cohesion policy funds, agricultural, migration, and Social Climate Fund resources into a single National and Regional Partnership Plan (NRPP) for each member state. This new Fund will constitute the main source of funding for climate and just transition objectives.
While the NRPPs aim at streamlining EU funding, a critical question remains: can a centralised instrument pooling so many objectives effectively support a just transition to climate neutrality?
This budget reform comes at a pivotal moment. The EU must increase—not reduce—investment to meet its climate goals. With an annual climate investment gap of €742 billion, it is unclear whether the EU will achieve its 55% emissions reduction target by 2030. National strategies, as described in the latest National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), lack clear financing plans, despite the Commission’s reliance on them to declare the EU on track. Climate targets are only as strong as the funding behind them.
Moreover, accelerating decarbonisation means fossil fuel-dependent regions will undergo substantial workforce restructuring. Recognising this, Ursula von der Leyen committed to a “significant increase” in just transition funding for the next MFF.
In the current programming period, cohesion policy has been key to the EU’s climate neutrality and just transition efforts. Programmes like the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Just Transition Fund (JTF) have delivered immediate social support, such as retraining programmes and energy efficiency grants, while driving long-term economic transformation. Yet, persistent challenges—slow fund absorption, limited local capacity, and uneven regional targeting—have weakened their impact. The next MFF must address these issues to ensure a fair and effective transition, but a complete overhaul of cohesion policy is counterproductive.
To evaluate how the NRPPs can best support a just transition, the Plan4Climate consortium consulted managing authorities, finance ministries, and cohesion policy experts across 12 member states. The analysis identifies strengths to build on and critical improvements needed to shape the NRPP Regulation. The Consortium recommends to:
- Align NRPPs with climate and just transition objectives by tying green earmarking to progress on EU climate and energy targets, increasing social earmarking, improving climate, environmental and social spending tracking, and adopting decommitment rules that support long-term investments.
- Build on the Just Transition Fund by maintaining explicit targeting of just transition regions, expanding support to sectors and areas currently overlooked, and ensuring long-term, predictable funding for vulnerable territories.
- Empower local and regional authorities through mandatory subnational chapters, reinforced partnership principles, and direct access to technical assistance, ensuring their meaningful involvement in planning, implementation, and monitoring. This should be complemented by robust oversight at the EU level — for instance through the European Fair Transition Observatory, or similar frameworks—to guarantee accountability and transparency.
- Build coherence with the NECPs, by ensuring NECPs identify minimum sectoral investment gaps and NRRPs provide targeted funding to fill them.
The NRPP proposal must address these aspects to deliver on the EU’s climate and just transition commitments. The full report, Supporting a just transition to climate neutrality through the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP): Lessons from the practice and recommendations for the 2028–2034 MFF, is available for further insights.