National Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP)

In the context of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, launched by the European Commission on February 12, 2021, Portugal submitted its final version of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) to the European Commission on April 22, 2021, and was approved on June 16, 2021.

The Portuguese RRP is a national program, to be executed until 2026, which aims to implement a set of reforms and investments that will enable Portugal to resume sustained economic growth, ensuring the recovery from the pandemic crisis and a resilient future for our country. This Plan is structured in three dimensions, Resilience, Climate Transition and Digital Transition.

The energy area is included in the "Climate Transition" dimension, which contains an ambitious sustainability agenda, expressively changing the landscape of mobility, decarbonization and the bioeconomy of energy efficiency; accelerating the transition to the use of clean and renewable energy; and developing the circular economy and changing the mobility paradigm, taking into account the need to preserve the future of new generations. This dimension intends, through the development of research, innovation and the application of more efficient energy production and consumption technologies, to promote the better use of the country's resources and develop the economic sectors around renewable energy production. It concentrates 18% of the overall amount of the RRP and is achieved through six components focused on the reduction of carbon emissions of the most relevant sectors and a greater incorporation of energy from renewable sources, i.e., the Sea, the Decarbonization of Industry, Sustainable Bioeconomy, Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Hydrogen and Renewables and Sustainable Mobility, which provide for the implementation of eight reforms and seventeen structuring investments.

The "Energy Efficiency in Buildings" dimension aims to rehabilitate and improve buildings' energy efficiency, providing countless social, environmental, and economic benefits for people and companies. It establishes as reforms, the Long-Term Strategy for Building Renovation, the 2030 Program for Resource Efficiency in Public Administration (ECO.AP 2030) and the Long-Term National Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty. It foresees investments of 300 M € for energy efficiency in residential buildings, 240 M € for energy efficiency in Central Government buildings and 70 M € for energy efficiency in service buildings.

The "Hydrogen and Renewables" dimension aims to promote the energy transition by providing support to renewable energies, with a major focus on hydrogen production and other gases of renewable origin. Establishes as reforms, the National Strategy for Hydrogen (EN-H2). Foresees as investments, 185 M € for hydrogen and renewable gases, 69 M € for the potentiation of renewable electricity in the Madeira Archipelago and 116 M € for the energy transition in the Azores.

The "Sustainable Mobility" dimension aims to ensure the development of robust projects, with strong contribution to the improvement of public transport systems, strengthening and increasing the use of public transport with the consequent reduction of dependence on individual road transport; and the decarbonization of the transport sector. Establishes as reforms, the transport ecosystem reform. It foresees, among other investments, €48 million for the public transport decarbonisation.