First meeting of Horizon 2020 Initiative’s Pollution Reduction Sub-Group (PR Investment Component)

Brussels, 18 November 2014

The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), as co-chair of the Pollution Reduction sub-group of the Horizon 2020 (H2020) Initiative together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), is organising the first meeting of the PR Investment Component in Brussels on 18 November. The first UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change was held in Athens in May 2014.

Following the full endorsement of the second phase of the H2020 Initiative during the Ministerial Meeting, the ministers set ambitious goals for 2007-2013 and specifically emphasised the need to strengthen the H2020 Pollution Reduction Investment Component. The ministers particularly called for full involvement of the UfM Secretariat, for consideration of projects in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and for accelerated preparation of beneficial projects and investment funding.

The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the roadmap presented by the co-chairs to a wider range of financial and institutional actors involved in the areas of waste water, industrial pollution and solid waste in the Mediterranean. The objective is to define joint actions and priorities over the coming years as well as concrete financial instruments for project preparation and implementation.