Cohesion Policy 2007 13 Ex post evaluation of

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Ex post evaluation of cohesion policy programmes 2000 -2006 co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development (Objective 1 and 2) Work Package 5 b “Environment and Climate Change” Adam Abdulwahab Evaluation network meeting Brussels, 25 February 2010 1

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Overview of To. R - 1 • Scope: – ERDF environment, including relevant parts of CF – Climate change: exploratory • Task 1: Conceptual basis • Task 2: Environment Strategies in MS – Focus: 14 “big spenders” (ES, IT, DE, EL, PT, FR, PL, IE, UK, CZ, SK, HU, LV, FI) 2

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Overview of To. R - 2 • Task 3: Main Outcomes – Output & result Indicators – Effectiveness of major sectoral OPs (in IE, EL, SK, PT, HU, CZ) • Task 4 & 5: Case Studies – General Regional: 10 – Waste management: 3 – Climate change: 3 3

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Conceptual Limitations • Impact of environmental infrastructure on growth is not well explored in European context – Short term vs long term – Incremental improvements 4

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Financial Allocation • Environment-related interventions, 20002006: € 25. 5 billion (21% of total ERDF allocation) • 86% in 7 MS (DE, EL, ES, FR, IE, IT, PT) and • 50% to only 3 countries - EL, ES, PT • Sectors – – Rehabilitation and planning (45%) Environmental infrastructure (44%) Environment-friendly technologies (7%) Energy infrastructure (4%) 5

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Significant Contribution to Environment… • Water supply – No. of projects: 3913 – Additional population served: 14. 1 million • Wastewater – No. of projects: 6211 – Additional population served: 20. 4 million • Solid waste – No. of projects: 2637 – New capacity of waste treatment: 231, 649 m 3/day – Unauthorised landfills closed/rehabilitated: 964 6

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 …with factors limiting effectiveness… • Investments were often oversized • Financial sustainability of investments was not always ensured • With the introduction of the 'polluter pays principle', some households in poorer regions refused to connect to the network, especially in the EU-10 • The four cohesion countries (EL, ES, IE, PT) delayed the introduction of the polluter / user pays principles, relying more heavily on European funds 7

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 …and limited short-term contribution to growth • The need to comply with European directives was the main driver of investments in environmental infrastructure. Main reasons are: – Impact of environmental infrastructure on economic development is unexplored in literature – The Commission also supported the view that an environmental measure is justified even if its only effect is environmental – Capacity problems in implementation favoured selecting projects according to maturity to be implemented, wider socio-economic impacts were less important 8

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Rehabilitation and Planning • Important mainly in Objective 2 regions • Only sporadic evidence that they had strong impact on economic development • Evaluation focusing on environmental infrastructure => further analysis needed 9

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Climate Change • Not top priority until 2005 • 120 OPs supported some intervention linked to climate change, with total amount of € 2. 3 billion • More exploratory and smaller interventions • Mainly targeted enterprises – Create capacity for renewable energy production – Energy savings through new technologies • Data is not available whether projects really needed public investments • Wider short-term economic impacts are mixed; can lead to both increased competitiveness or decreased employment 10

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Implications • Institutional capacity must be seriously improved • Financial sustainability needs more attention • The “green economy” - need to move beyond environmental infrastructure • Reviewing objectives: Investing in environment is a political choice • Ensuring synergies between environmental infrastructure and economic growth 11

Cohesion Policy 2007 - 13 Thank you for your attention 12