National Energy and Climate Plan.

This National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) is the Greek government’s strategic Plan for climate and energy issues, setting out a detailed roadmap regarding the achievement of specific energy and climate objectives by 2030, taking into account the European Commission’s recommendations and the UN sustainable development goals. The government’s strategic aim is that the NECP objectives should contribute substantially to the necessary energy transition in the most economically competitive manner for the national economy, ensuring a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and laying down more ambitious objectives than both those of the initial NECP draft presented in January 2019 and the core EU objectives set in the context of the Union Energy Policy. The NECP also aims to contribute to the new green deal promoted by the Commission, which is expected to incorporate both new mechanisms and financing priorities for supporting energy and climate transition, also strengthening the competitiveness of the European economy.
This Plan is structured as follows: 1) Plan overview and drafting procedure, including: consultation and involvement of national EU bodies; National and Union energy system and policy framework of the National Plan. 2) National objectives and targets, including: climate change, emissions and removals of greenhouse gases; renewable energy sources; improvement in energy efficiency; energy security; internal energy market; research, innovation and competitiveness; key issues of cross-border interest. 3) Policies and measures, including: governance mechanism for implementing of the National Energy and Climate Plan; financing measures concerning climate change, emissions and removal of greenhouse gases; special measures concerning renewable energy sources; improvement in energy efficiency; energy security; internal energy market; energy transition policies in the agricultural, shipping and tourism sectors. 4) Energy system development results by 2030, including: estimated development of the main external factors affecting the energy system and the greenhouse gas emissions; projections for the development of the energy system and the emissions and absorptions of greenhouse gases. 5) Overview of impact and investment needs, including: analysis of impact of key national planning policies; existing investment flows and planned investment assumptions regarding planned policy measures; risk factors and challenges.
Concerning specific objectives, this Plan concerns: implementation of necessary climate adaptation measures at national, regional and local levels, in particular focusing on sustainable land use and the promotion of sustainable urban mobility, waste management measures, in line with the requirements of the circular economy and public procurement; increase in the level of share in gross final energy consumption of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvement measures, improving use of biofuels and putting a complete end to the use of lignite for power generation in Greece by 2028, in order to address environmental protection issues. In order to achieve the objectives, the National Plan sets out and details the individual priorities and the corresponding measures, under different core sectors, including: use of resources in the operation for emissions trading system, preservation of biodiversity, more efficient use of water resources, maintaining and strengthening forest services and forest management, aquaculture and water management plans, flood risk management, coastal zone management, prevention of and response to forest fires, disseminating good practices, sustainable food production, sustainable farm management, optimising the use of agricultural land, improving crop irrigation systems, reducing the use of fertilisers and improving animal waste management, separate waste disposal, promoting the use of treated hazardous and non-hazardous waste as secondary raw materials and secondary fuels in industry, combating and mitigating plastic pollution.