Triumph for Rochdale MEP

Chris Davies MEP

Rochdale Lib Dem Euro-MP Chris Davies is celebrating news today that a funding mechanism he introduced will lead to over €3 billion being put into new clean energy technologies across Europe.

The European Commission today announced that financial support for 23 innovative projects has been agreed.

Money from a fund known as the NER300 scheme, steered into law by Davies, will put €1.2 billion into technologies to test renewable energy generation. The investment will lever in an additional €2 billion of private sector investment.

Two major UK schemes to test the viability of tidal power will be amongst the projects that will qualify for financial support.

Mr Davies said that he hoped the massive investment by the EU to promote new technology would help secure energy supplies for the future and bring down carbon dioxide levels in the future.

He explained that the money would not come from the EU budget but from the sale of surplus allowances within Europe's emissions trading system.

“Energy bills and carbon dioxide emissions are a giant worry to people in Rochdale and innovation will eventually bring energy prices and climate change under control.

"There are very few people in public life who can claim to have secured nearly £1 billion of investment to develop technologies for the future.

"I know that this is the greatest achievement of my political life."

NER300 funding is based on the income of the European Emissions Trading Scheme in which the sale of the 300 million allowances (which each provide the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide) forms the New Entrants Reserve.