The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Institute for a Just Transition (ITJ), has awarded €22.3 million in grants to 35 business initiatives that will mobilize close to €93 million in investment and foresee the creation of 435 jobs in areas of a just transition.
As detailed by the department headed by Sara Aagesen, this line of aid, aimed at promoting new economic activities in municipalities affected by the closure of coal mines, coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants, has co-financing of €13.7 million from the EU Just Transition Fund.
The aim of these grants is to boost diversification of the local economic fabric, attract new investment and create job opportunities in regions immersed in processes of restructuring. Companies receiving support must generate the committed jobs and keep them for at least three years.
The approved projects are distributed across different industrial and productive sectors, from the processing of forestry resources and the agri-food industry to recycling and the circular economy, thereby expanding the business base of just transition areas.
Among the selected actions is a new waste and byproduct processing plant to manufacture high value-added boards in As Pontes (A Coruña), with a grant-eligible investment of €1.6 million and the planned creation of 17 jobs; also, in Morcín (Asturias), a processing center for forest biomass will mobilize a grant-eligible investment of €6.7 million and commits to generating 30 jobs; and, in the field of the circular economy, in Albalate del Arzobispo (Teruel), a recycling center for photovoltaic panels, with a grant-eligible investment of €2.4 million and a commitment to create 18 jobs.
The agri-food industry is also represented in the call with a plant for manufacturing organic juices in Carboneras (Almería), which contemplates a grant-eligible investment of €3.7 million and the creation of 26 jobs; and, in Barruelo de Santullán (Palencia), a plant for processing sausages and meat products will have a grant-eligible investment of €600,000 and three new jobs.
Additional support for small investment projects
At the same time, the Institute for Just Transition is processing the resolution of the call for grants aimed at small investment projects in areas of just transition, covered by the de minimis regulation.
In this regard, the Ministry advanced that in the coming weeks the final resolution will be made public, endowed with around four million euros in additional funding to support small projects and business initiatives in these transitioning territories.