BRUSSELS — All but one EU government missed a Monday deadline for plans to make the green transition affordable, threatening to delay the disbursement of funds meant to protect the poorest Europeans.

Only Sweden sent in the so-called social climate plan on time, the European Commission confirmed on Tuesday. The remaining 26 countries are still working on their plans — despite most of them fretting about the impact of green policies on vulnerable households.

The plans are required because the EU is preparing to put a price on planet-warming emissions from heating and road transport from 2027, which is expected to increase households’ fuel bills. The idea is that the cost will incentivize Europeans to switch to fossil-free alternatives like electric vehicles and heat pumps.

To avoid penalizing low-income Europeans — many of whom already struggle paying their energy bills and can’t afford high-priced EVs — as well as small businesses, the EU set up the €86.7 billion Social Climate Fund, which is meant to fund measures to help poor households starting next year. To access these funds, each EU country has to submit a plan detailing how it will spend its share of the cash.

A majority of EU countries recently demanded tweaks to the incoming carbon price over cost fears.

But with nearly every country blowing the June 30 deadline, disbursement of the relief funds now faces holdups.

“There are no legal consequences for not submitting the plans,” said Commission spokesperson Eva Hrnčířová, but warned that it may delay access to the cash.

The Commission must wait for all 27 social climate plans before it can set up the fund, Hrnčířová explained. Only after that will EU governments be able to access the fund’s public money. Hrnčířová added that the EU executive will have five months to assess countries’ plans, but couldn’t specify when that timeline would start.

The cash pot is meant to finance initiatives like renewable energy, home renovation, clean heating and cooling and low-emission cars.

“We wanted to have the fund up from the beginning of next year,” Hrnčířová said, but “if we don’t have [the plans] soon, then obviously the work on this project needs to be postponed.”

“We hope that the member states will now swiftly prepare their plans,” she added.

This article has been updated with additional information from the European Commission regarding the Social Climate Fund.