Needs analysis of funding for Groningen

In order to achieve a climate-neutral economy by 2050 under the European Green Deal and to compensate for regional inequalities, the EU supports the efforts of countries and regions towards climate neutrality through the "Just Transition Fund" (JTF). The province of Groningen was not only able to make good use of this funding, but it also has the capacity to use this money effectively and thus to offer the EU significant added value.

Best conditions for promotion

The EU Commission considers the Groningen region in the Netherlands one of the areas eligible for JTF funding. There are 20,000 jobs dependent on the value chain of the natural gas business there under threat as natural gas production continues to be reduced at an increasing rate. The region is already affected by regional poverty and social exclusion.

However, the region also has almost 100 projects ready to start that directly meet the goals of the JTF. Complementarities and synergies between existing programmes and strategies and the JTF would enable the enormous social, economic, and environmental challenges to be overcome.

"In particular, the development of a green hydrogen economy in the northern Netherlands is already at a more advanced stage of development than in the other EU Member States. It could help to achieve both the climate targets, i.e. also to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of reduced gas production in the region, by creating new jobs and stimulating investment in the region," explains Prognos expert Neysan Khabirpour.

Determination of the results

Prognos first regionalised the allocation method of the JTF to the Netherlands and estimated how high the allocation share should be for the province of Groningen. In this context, an overview of the challenges of the transition to a green economy was also presented. In a second step, the opportunities that the "green" transition would entail were highlighted. The report concludes with a summary of the main conclusions and a strategic outlook.

Authors: Dr Jan-Philipp Kramer, Neysan Khabirpour

The report is not publicly available.