C4T Community of Practice: Supporting Cohesion Territories in Sustainability Transitions

The C4T Community of Practice is a community-based platform that aim to support cohesion territories to make a better use of EU funds for sustainability transitions. C4T engages national, regional, and local cohesion and sustainability transitions practitioners in sharing experience and good practices, creating partnerships and jointly identifying solutions. C4T also provides technical assistance to facilitate the development and/or implementation of sustainability transitions.

C4T covers all EU regions across Europe. It brings together beneficiaries involved in the implementation of transition measures with support from cohesion policy under Policy Objective 2 ‘A greener, low-carbon transition towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe’. This includes managing authorities of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF) programmes, regional and local authorities, implementing authorities and other public bodies in the areas of environment, energy, and climate, as well as other relevant stakeholders involved in the implementation of cohesion policy.

Cohesion for sustainability transitions

There is an urgent need to act in delivering the climate neutral and circular economy ambition set by the European Green Deal. Member States and regions are not only faced with the existential threat posed by climate change, but also challenges posed by disruptions generated by global events such as the recent economic and energy crise. Ensuring the effective use of EU funds to support sustainability transitions is fundamental for enhancing the resilience and preparedness of Member States and regions and for making the European Green Deal a reality for EU citizens.

Cohesion policy and EU funds have, for many years, been the engine of structural changes in European regions. For the 2021-2027 programming period, the European Commission has channelled close to EUR 400 billion to cohesion delivered through several funds (ERDF, CF, ESF+, JTF).

The status of implementation of Policy Objective 2 is shown below.

Open Data Portal for the European Structural Investment Funds – European Commission | Data | European Structural and Investment Funds (europa.eu)

Get C4T GROUNDWORK technical assistance

C4T GROUNDWORK offers technical assistance to enable cohesion territories to effectively implement sustainability transitions with funding from ERDF and CF. Tailored technical assistance will be provided to selected beneficiaries by technical experts appointed by the European Commission and C4T Secretariat.

The target groups for technical assistance are public authorities, such as

• managing and implementing authorities of EU funds
• environment and energy authorities
• local and regional governments

C4T GROUNDWORK covers a wide range of thematic areas under Policy Objective 2 “A greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe” under the ERDF and/or CF programmes, including:

• Energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
• Renewable energy
• Climate change adaptation
• Water and sustainable water management
• Circular economy and resource efficient economy
• Protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity, and green infrastructure

The technical assistance is announced through Calls for Applications. To learn more about the assistance and the application process, see the C4T GROUNDWORK Guidelines.

• C4T GROUNDWORK Guidelines

If you are interested in receiving technical assistance, please:

C4T Working Groups

The C4T Working Groups on Energy, Climate Change and Environment offer a forum for exchange of good practices and knowledge related to the successful implementation of sustainability transitions investments with support from cohesion policy. They also provide a space for more specific discussions on bottlenecks to the implementation of investments on energy, climate change and environment.

The C4T Working Groups will collect and document existing knowledge and good practices in overcoming bottlenecks in the implementation of the European Green Deal through cohesion policy investments, including issues related to the fulfilment of the related thematic enabling conditions.

The members of the groups are managing authorities, as well as other public authorities and stakeholders involved in the implementation of ERDF and CF investments focused on sustainability transitions.

The Working Groups meet twice yearly to exchange on different topics based on concrete needs and bottlenecks identified. Each group is chaired by dedicated Facilitator from the C4T Secretariat.

Interested in joining one of the Working Groups?

Academic Sounding Board

The Academic Sounding Board is a scientific forum that provides advice on sustainability transitions to the C4T Community of Practice and the Just Transition Platform.

The Academic Sounding Board will support the advancement of knowledge related to cohesion for transitions by providing advice for the development of analytical work focused on cohesion policy as an enabler of sustainability transitions.

The Academic Sounding Board is an important link to the academic community. Science plays a crucial role in making state-of-the-art analytical and academic thinking available and providing actionable knowledge to Managing Authorities and other public bodies involved in the implementation of funds through research at the intersection of cohesion policy and sustainability transitions.