14561 Town/City Kifisia, Athens
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 GRFU financing represents the only national funds devoted to the environment 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 MEE 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 MEEN and to the Strategic Committee of Environment Policy on the best achievement of the policy objectives in order to protect the environment and address climate change.
As one of the few state organizations with own funds devoted to the environment, GRFU plays an important role in the financial support of the Natura 2000 sites in Greece. At present, GRFU is participating in three LIFE projects, one as a coordinator and two as a project partner.