Sustainable Europe Investment Plan should close investment gap

Transition towards climate-neutral economy must be well designed

Today the European Commission published its communication on a Sustainable Europe Investment Plan.

BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer said in reaction to the Commission’s publication: “Europe continues to suffer from an investment gap compared to our pre-crisis levels. The Sustainable Europe Investment Plan is an important step to help close our investment gap, facilitate the transition towards a climate-neutral economy, and raise Europe’s long-term productivity and competitiveness. We must ensure that investment is channelled into productive areas of demonstrable added value, with public funds complementing, and not crowding-out, private sector investments”.

Specifically, on the Just Transition Mechanism, Markus J. Beyrer said: “The Just Transition Mechanism is a valuable EU-wide initiative to support employers and employees in regions the most impacted by the transition to climate neutrality. The modalities of the mechanism must be well-designed to optimise its impact. However, given the scale of the challenges at stake with this transition, the Just Transition Mechanism alone will not be the silver bullet. A broader range of framework conditions needs to be put in place rapidly, to make this deeply transformative agenda a success and to avoid damaging growth and jobs”.