On 3 July 2020, the European Commission opens one of the most important worldwide programme to drive clean innovative technologies towards the market: the Innovation Fund. A call for environmental-friendly projects to boost competitiveness among innovative technologies with a low carbon footprint.
The Fund supports innovation in energy-intensive industries, renewables, energy storage and carbon capture, use, and storage. The programme will last during the entire decade, and many calls for projects will follow the very first one launched earlier in July. It will stimulate the green recovery by creating local jobs which will eventually help achieve Europe’s goal to be climate neutral by 2050.
10 Billion Euros Invested By The European Commission To Help Innovation
According to the European Commission’s official website, the Innovation Fund will distribute about 10 billion euros in the next decade. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the world’s largest carbon pricing system, is providing the revenues for the Innovation Fund from the auctioning of 450 million allowances from 2020 to 2030, as well as any unspent funds from the NER300 programme, the Innovative Fund’s predecessor.
The Innovation Fund will improve the risk-sharing for projects by giving more funding in a more flexible way through a simpler selection process and is also open to projects from energy-intensive industries.
During the first Project Call, 1 billion euros will be granted to large-scale projects in clean technologies industry to contribute to the green recovery of the EU economy. This financial support will also help clean energy technologies and clean industries’ implementation on the market. Regarding promising projects that are not ready to be commercialised yet, a budget of 8 million euros will be set aside to help those projects later.
A Call For Projects Addressed To All Of The European Union
Any country from the European Union can participate in this call for projects. The Innovation Funds can be used along with other initiatives from public funding such as help from the State or other UE funding programmes. Projects will be selected based on:
- Effectiveness of greenhouse gas emissions avoidance
- Degree of innovation
- Project maturity
- Scalability
- Cost efficiency
Projects can be submitted on the ‘Funding & tender Opportunities’ portal on the European Commission’s website. The deadline for this first call for proposals for large-scale projects is 29 October 2020.
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