The key to a green economy lies in high-yield investments, says Greek Energy Minister Todoros Skilakakis.
According to the government draft presented, the energy transition of the Greek economy to a green economy by 2050 will require investments of €436 billion.
These costs are perhaps the biggest challenge of the revised National Energy and Climate Plan (ESEK), presented at a special event by the Bank of Greece, with Environment and Energy Minister Todoros Skilakakis delivering a clear message of "the end of subsidies".
"Subsidies have no place in this transition. The seven state budgets are not enough. I say this to be realistic, to those who look at ESEK and see it as easy subsidies," the minister said.
He pointed out that "the key is in high-yield investments, which require healthy institutions to be able to borrow and repay their investments" and noted that the mistakes of the past should not be repeated. "In the past, we have paid a lot of subsidies. We built monstrous plants that we are going to close," he said, pointing to the Ptolemais 5 lignite unit, which cost about €2 billion and will be retired in 2026 as part of the PPC's decarbonisation programme.
The minister stressed that the national plan for adapting the Greek economy to the new reality, reflected in the new ESEK, does not fully cover adaptation to climate change as a result of the great weakness of European policy, which, he stressed, is dominated by the view that we will prevent climate change before it worsens.
"In Europe, there is no serious plan for the fiscal consequences and the necessary adjustments to tackle climate change, so we are trying to limit the damage that the crisis leaves in its wake," he noted.
"There is no room for complacency, but decisive and above all coordinated action is needed," underlined Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras. "At the Bank of Greece, we have been systematically dealing with climate and sustainability issues for the past 15 years, and since 2009, all our studies have shown that the costs associated with climate change are projected to rise until action is taken," he said. | BGNES
