The European Commission has just opened the Innovation Fund’s 2023 call for proposals with a record budget of €4 billion to support the deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies. In fact, the call will close on the 9th of April 2024.
This call doubles the budget allocated for cleantech manufacturing projects with €1.4 billion available for projects targeting industrial manufacturing capacity, technology leadership and supply chain resilience in Europe.
The call is divided into five different topics with different budget and capital expenditure (CAPEX) requirements:
- General decarbonisation (large-scale) – €1.7 billion available for projects with CAPEX above €100 million
- General decarbonisation (medium-scale) – €500 million available for projects with CAPEX between €20 million and €100 million
- General decarbonisation (small-scale) – €200 million available for projects with CAPEX between €2.5 million and €20 million
- Cleantech manufacturing – €1.4 billion available for projects with CAPEX above €2.5 million focusing on the manufacturing of components for renewable energy, energy storage, heat pumps and hydrogen production
The Innovation Fund focuses on funding cutting-edge European initiatives and technologies that have the potential to significantly reduce emissions. The programme is designed to distribute the risk across project sponsors and promote ground-breaking, first-of-its-kind decarbonisation projects.
he entire financing for the Innovation Fund is dependent on the price of carbon; if the carbon price is €75/tCO2, it may reach roughly €40 billion from 2020 to 2030. In reality, the EU ETS’s Innovation Fund permits are auctioned off in accordance with a predetermined timetable, and the money acquired is then utilized to fund the best projects.
The Fund seeks to finance a diverse project pipeline by striking the best possible balance between a variety of cutting-edge technologies in all eligible industries and nations. Projects must be located in the EU members, Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein but applications from entities based outside these countries are eligible.
- Pilot – €200 million available for projects with CAPEX above €2.5 million focusing on deep decarbonisation.
It is worth mentioning that the Innovatio nFund is also open to non-EU entities as long as the projects are located in the EEA. Projects from the maritime, road transport and buildings sectors, are for the first time eligible.
The projects selected are expected to kick off in the first quarter of 2025.
