The establishment of a new special fund for the decoupling of the Greek islands from fossil fuels and the development of renewable energy sources to meet their needs was announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during the international conference "Our Ocean Conference,"  hosted this year in Athens.

The funds, the prime minister said, will come from the European Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading System allowances, and, depending on the variable price of the auctioned allowances, it is estimated that they could amount to 2 billion euros, APE-MPE noted.

According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the money will be allocated primarily to projects for "the connection of our islands to the mainland grid, energy storage, renewable energy sources, including offshore wind energy," and "the construction of multi-purpose water tanks.".

Government sources said that the agreement to finance the new carbon fund through the European Emissions Trading Scheme was recently reached following negotiations between the government, the European Commission, and the European Investment Bank.

The same sources noted that the €2 billion figure quoted by Mitsotakis is a conservative estimate of the money that will be available to Greece, as it does not take into account forecasts for a possible increase in the price of allowances over the next two years, which would bring more money to Greece, nor does it take into account the additional investments that will be mobilised.

The horizon for the implementation of the selected projects, according to the same sources, is 2032, while there is a feeling within the government ranks that the new financial instrument will strengthen the GR-Eco islands initiative, so that it can be expanded in a steady manner beyond the successful pilot projects in Halki and Astypalaea. It is recalled that Poros is the third island to join this green islands initiative.