Use of EU structural funds for sustainable energy development in new EU member states

More wide use of renewable energy sources (RES) and increase in energy supply and use efficiency can make a valuable contribution to the meeting sustainable energy development targets. The article presents a detailed overview of possibilities to use the EU Structural Funds available for new member states (NMS) to finance sustainable energy projects and to overcome market failures related with negative externalities of pollution, positive externalities of knowledge and adoption of new pollution reduction technologies and incomplete information. The analysis of current situation of the use of EU Structural funds (SF) for the implementation of sustainable energy projects in Lithuania, Poland and Check Republic was performed based on RUSE project results. The proposals to enhance use of SF for sustainable energy projects in NMS were developed.