Implementing regulation 2014/215 - Rules for implementing Regulation 1303/2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund with regard to methodologies for climate change support, the determination of milestones and targets in the performance framework and the nomenclature of categories of intervention for the European Structural and Investment Funds - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 69/65

Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 lays down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) which provide support under the cohesion policy and now operate under a common framework.

The provisions in this Regulation are closely linked, since they deal with the fund-specific rules for each of the five European Structural and Investment Funds (the ‘ESI Funds’) on aspects common to three or more of them, i.e. a methodology for climate change support, the determination of milestones and targets in the performance framework and the nomenclature of categories of intervention and all affect the content of programmes. To ensure coherence between those provisions, which should enter into force at the same time to facilitate strategic programming of the ESI Funds, and to facilitate a comprehensive view and compact access to them by all Union residents, it is desirable to include these elements relevant for the programming of the ESI Funds to be set out by implementing acts as required by Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 in a single Regulation.

Pursuant to the third subparagraph of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, it is necessary to adopt a common methodology to determine the level of support for climate change objectives for each of the five ESI Funds. That methodology should consist of assigning a specific weighting to the support provided under the ESI Funds at a level which reflects the extent to which such support makes a contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. The specific weighting assigned should be differentiated on the basis of whether the support makes a significant or a moderate contribution towards climate change objectives. Where the support does not contribute towards those objectives or the contribution is insignificant, a weighting of zero should be assigned. The standard weightings should be used to ensure a harmonised approach to tracking of climate change related expenditure across different Union policies. The methodology should nevertheless reflect the differences in...