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1. Recovery and resilience plans submitted to the Commission after 1 March 2023 that require the use of additional funding under Articles 14, 21a or 21b, shall include a REPowerEU chapter containing measures and their corresponding milestones and targets. The measures in the REPowerEU chapter shall be either new reforms and investments, started from 1 February 2022 onwards, or the scaled-up part of reforms and investments included in the already adopted Council implementing decision for the Member State concerned.

2. By derogation from paragraph 1, Member States that are subject to a decrease in the maximum financial contribution in accordance with Article 11(2) may also include in the REPowerEU chapters measures included in the already adopted Council implementing decisions without having them scaled-up, up to an amount of estimated costs equal to that decrease.

3. Reforms and investments in the REPowerEU chapter shall aim to contribute to at least one of the following objectives:

(a) improving energy infrastructure and facilities to meet immediate security of supply needs for gas, including liquified natural gas, notably to enable diversification of supply in the interest of the Union as a whole; measures concerning the oil infrastructure and facilities necessary to meet immediate security of supply needs may be included in the REPowerEU chapter of a Member State only where that Member State has been subject to the exceptional temporary derogation in Article 3m(4) of Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 by 1 March 2023, due to its specific dependence on crude oil and its geographical situation;

(b) boosting energy efficiency in buildings and critical energy infrastructure, decarbonising industry, increasing the production and uptake of sustainable biomethane and of renewable or fossil-free hydrogen, and increasing the share and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy;

(c) addressing energy poverty;

(d) incentivising reduction of energy demand;

(e) addressing internal and cross-border energy transmission and distribution bottlenecks, supporting electricity storage and accelerating the integration of renewable energy sources, and supporting zero-emission transport and its infrastructure, including railways;

(f) supporting the objectives set out in points (a) to (e) through an accelerated requalification of the workforce towards green and related digital skills, as well as through support of the value chains in critical raw materials and technologies linked to the green transition.

4. The REPowerEU chapter shall also contain an explanation as to how the measures in that chapter are coherent with the efforts of the Member State concerned to achieve the objectives set out in paragraph 3, taking into account the measures included in the already adopted Council implementing decision, as well as an explanation of the overall contribution of those measures and other nationally funded and Union-funded complementary or accompanying measures to those objectives.

5. The estimated costs of the reforms and investments in the REPowerEU chapter shall not be taken into account for the calculation of the recovery and resilience plan’s total allocation under Article 18(4), point (f), and Article 19(3), point (f).

6. By derogation from Article 5(2), Article 17(4), Article 18(4), point (d), and Article 19(3), point (d), the principle of “do no significant harm” shall not apply to the reforms and investments under paragraph 3, point (a), of this Article, subject to a positive assessment by the Commission that the following requirements are met:

(a) the measure is necessary and proportionate to meet immediate security of supply needs in accordance with paragraph 3, point (a), of this Article taking into account cleaner feasible alternatives and the risk of lock-in effects;

(b) the Member State concerned has undertaken satisfactory efforts to limit the potential harm to environmental objectives within the meaning of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, where feasible, and to mitigate harm through other measures, including the measures in the REPowerEU chapter;

(c) the measure does not jeopardise the achievement of the Union’s 2030 climate targets and the objective of EU climate neutrality by 2050, based on qualitative considerations;

(d) the measure is planned to be in operation by 31 December 2026.

7. When carrying out the assessment referred to in paragraph 6, the Commission shall act in close cooperation with the Member State concerned. The Commission may make observations or request additional information. The Member State concerned shall provide the requested additional information.

8. The revenue made available in accordance with Article 21a shall not contribute to reforms and investments under paragraph 3, point (a), of this Article.

9. The total estimated costs of the measures subject to a positive assessment by the Commission under paragraph 6 shall not exceed 30 % of the total estimated costs of the measures included in the REPowerEU chapter.