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Asturias, first beneficiary of aid for small investment projects of MITECO for the areas of Just Transition

18/07/2024
Asturias, first beneficiary of aid for small investment projects of MITECO for the areas of Just Transition

- Records 42 of the 106 awardees, who will mobilize a total investment of more than 24 million in seven autonomous communities

The Institute for the Just Transition (ITJ), a body linked to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published the final resolution of the call for aid for small investment projects that generate or maintain employment, promoting alternative development in the areas of Just Transition. The resolution, which can be consulted hereIt will benefit 106 projects throughout the country; in total they will receive aid of 8.5 million euros and mobilise a joint investment of 24.5 million euros.

The aid, funded by the ITJ budget and the European Just Transition Fund, has been granted through competitive competition procedures. By autonomous communities, Asturias has the highest number of beneficiary projects (42), followed by Andalusia (16), Castilla y León (16), Aragón (15), Galicia (11), and Castilla La Mancha and Basque Country (3).

For the first time, non-mining areas affected by the closure of coal power plants in Galicia (Fair Transition Agreements of As Pontes and Meirama), Andalusia (Fair Transition Agreements of Los Barrios, Puente Nuevo and Carboneras) and the Balearic Islands (Fair Transition Agreement of Alcudia) have been eligible, in addition to the areas affected by the closures of nuclear power plants in the Fair Transition Agreements of Zorita and Garoña.


COMMITMENT TO EMPLOYMENT
Given the importance that MITECO, and especially the ITJ, attaches to the social impacts of the energy policy deployed by the Government, one of the key requirements in the granting of this aid is the commitment that the beneficiaries acquire with the creation and maintenance of employment, for at least three years, in the areas awarded. This commitment translates into the generation of 207 jobs, of which at least 30% will be filled by women and another 27% by young people, which is an additional incentive for population fixation in these municipalities.

Some of the projects that have obtained the highest score are:

  • Planta de valorización de residuos de construcción en Salas (Suroccidente de Asturias).
  • Center for research and intervention against unwanted loneliness (Ari｟｠ -Teruel).
  • Adecuación de instalaciones de empresa de suministros industriales en As Pontes (Galicia).
  • Creation of a flight and leisure club in Fuente Obejuna (Córdoba).
  • Modernization and improvement of the efficiency of a hospitality business in Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara).
  • Multi-adventure company in La Pola de Gordón (León).

This call, whose grants will be co-financed by MITECO, through the ITJ, and the European Union, through the Just Transition Fund – a new instrument of the Cohesion Policy for the period 2021-2027 – have been attended by companies from all the aforementioned areas in competitive competition. A second call, of similar characteristics, will be launched at the beginning of 2025.