The Green Fund (GRFU) is a Public Legal Entity, associated to the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEEN). The establishment of GRFU (Law 3889/2010) allows a wide distribution of funds (coming from environmental taxes, fees for environmental damage, auctioning of EU ETS allowances etc.) to targeted environmental conservation programs. Practically, the GRFU financing is the only national fund dedicated to environmental purposes during the last five years.
GRFU’s objective is to stimulate sustainable development through environmental protection and conservation by providing administrative, economic, technical and financial support for programs, measures and interventions aiming at improving and restoring the environment and combating climate change. To this end, the GRFU finances programs set up by MEEN to be implemented by other Ministries and subordinated bodies, local authorities, legal entities and other stakeholders of the public sector. The annual budget of GRFU is more than 60 M€.
The responsibilities of GRFU include, among others:
- The development of programs for financing measures and actions to protect, improve and restore the environment in the context of environmental and energy policy.
- The evaluation, selection and monitoring of programs under funding.
- Carrying out of the necessary procedures for the selection of individual implementation bodies of the above actions; agreeing with them on the terms and conditions for financing those activities by the Green Resource and monitoring these agreements.
- The preparation of proposals and presentation to the Minister of Environment and Energy and to the Strategic Committee of Environment Policy on means for the better achievement of policy objectives in order to protect the environment and address climate change.
As one of the few state organizations with its own funding streams and devoted to the environment, GRFU plays an important role in the financial support of the Habitats and Bird Directives and Natura 2000 sites in Greece. Green Fund is the National Contact Point for the LIFE Programme (Environment) in Greece and participates as beneficiary in 3 LIFE Integrated Projects, 4 Traditional LIFE Projects and as coordinator in a LIFE Capacity Building Project. Green Fund also provides part of the national contribution in EU approved LIFE projects.
