Exclusion from the scope of the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund

1.   The ERDF and the Cohesion Fund shall not support:
(a)
the decommissioning or the construction of nuclear power stations;
(b)
investment to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC;
(c)
the manufacturing, processing and marketing of tobacco and tobacco products;
(d)
an undertaking in difficulty, as defined in point (18) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, unless authorised under
de minimis
aid or temporary State aid rules established to address exceptional circumstances;
(e)
investment in airport infrastructure, except for outermost regions or in existing regional airports as defined in point (153) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, in any of the following cases:
(i)
in environmental impact mitigation measures; or
(ii)
in security, safety, and air traffic management systems resulting from Single European Sky ATM Research;
(f)
investment in disposal of waste in landfill, except:
(i)
for the outermost regions, in duly justified cases only; or
(ii)
for investments for decommissioning, reconverting or making safe existing landfills provided that such investments do not increase their capacity;
(g)
investment increasing the capacity of facilities for the treatment of residual waste, except for:
(i)
the outermost regions in duly justified cases only;
(ii)
investment in technologies to recover materials from residual waste for circular economy purposes;
(h)
investment related to production, processing, transport, distribution, storage or combustion of fossil fuels, with the exception of:
(i)
the replacement of solid fossil fuels fired, namely coal, peat, lignite, oil-shale, heating systems with gas-fired heating systems for the purpose of:
—
upgrading district heating and cooling systems to the status of ‘efficient district heating and cooling’ as defined in point (41) of Article 2 of Directive 2012/27/EU;
—
upgrading combined heat and power installations to the status of ‘high-efficiency co-generation’ as defined in point (34) of Article 2 of Directive 2012/27/EU;
—
investment in natural gas-fired boilers and heating systems in housing and buildings replacing coal-, peat-, lignite- or oil shale-based installations;
(ii)
investment in the expansion and repurposing, conversion or retrofitting of gas transmission and distribution networks provided that such investment makes the networks ready for adding renewable and low carbon gases, such as hydrogen, biomethane and synthesis gas, into the system and allows to substitute solid fossil fuels installations;
(iii)
investment in:
—
clean vehicles as defined in Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
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for public purposes; and
—
vehicles, aircraft and vessels designed and constructed or adapted for use by civil protection and fire services.
2.   The total amount of Union support for Union investment referred to in points (h)(i) and (h)(ii) of paragraph 1 shall not exceed the following limits of the total programmes allocation from the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund under the Investment for jobs and growth goal for the Member State concerned:
(a)
for Member States whose gross national income (GNI) per capita is below 60 % of the EU average GNI per capita, or for Member States whose GNI per capita is below 90 % of the EU average GNI per capita and which have a share of solid fossil fuels in gross inland energy consumption equal to or above 25 %, the limit shall be 1,55 %;
(b)
for Member States other than those in point (a) whose GNI per capita is below 90 % of the EU average GNI per capita, the limit shall be 1 %;
(c)
for Member States whose GNI per capita is equal to or above 90 % of the EU average GNI per capita, the limit shall be 0,2 %.
3.   For the purposes of this Article, the gross national income per capita of a given Member State shall be measured in purchasing power standards and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period from 2015 to 2017, and expressed as a percentage of the national income per capita in purchasing power standards of the 27 Member States for that same reference period.
For the purposes of this Article, the share of solid fossil fuels in energy consumption means the share of coal, lignite, peat and oil shale measured in 2018.
4.   Operations supported by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund under points (h)(i) and (h)(ii) of paragraph 1 shall be selected by the managing authority by 31 December 2025. Such operations shall not be phased to the next programming period.
5.   The Cohesion Fund shall not support investment in housing unless related to the promotion of energy efficiency or renewable energy use.
6.   Overseas countries and territories shall not be eligible for support from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund, but may participate in Interreg programmes in accordance with the conditions set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1059 of the European Parliament and of the Council
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.