Investment into Low-Carbon Economy in the CEE NUTS-2 Regions: Are EU Funds Used where Needed?

This paper explores the spending decisions about the EU Cohesion Policy 2014–20 investment in the low-carboneconomy in the 2 regions of Central and Eastern European countries with regard to their climate need, proxied by the carbon emissions. By estimating non-spatial and spatial econometric models, which take intoacc ount the spatial scope of the Cohesion Policy, we do not confirm a statistically significant positive relationship between climate need proxied by carbon emissions in 2013 and the EU funds to a low-carbon economy in the programming period 2014–20. Our results, therefore, suggest that the EU funds with the low-carbon thematic objective have not been primarily spent in the regions with the highest carbon emissions prior to the examined programming period, calling for increasing awareness and necessary technical assistance for the beneficiaries, along the place-based strategies in the implementation of the Cohesion Policy in the next programming periods.