Eighty-five net-zero projects are to share grant funding of €4.8 billion from the European Commission’s Innovation Fund, as the bloc looks to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. The projects, which are located across 18 countries including Norway and Iceland, range from large scale through to pilot, and were selected following a call for proposals in November 2023, to support the deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies.
This round of funding is the largest since the Innovation Fund, which is underpinned by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), was established in 2020. With an estimated revenue of €40 billion from the EU ETS between 2020 and 2030, the Innovation fund is designed to create financial incentives for companies and public authorities to invest in advanced net-zero and low-carbon technologies.
The Commission said that the projects contribute to five of the EU’s policy objectives. These include: cleantech manufacturing which will see the construction of production facilities for key components in areas such as wind and solar energy, heat pumps, and electrolysers; cutting emissions from energy intensive industries; industrial carbon management projects which will capture 13% of the emissions set out in the Commission's Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA); delivery of 62 kilotonnes of renewable fuel of non-biological origin each year; and net-zero mobility which will see a cut in emissions from maritime sector in particular.
The selected projects are set to become operational before 2030 with the Commission saying that over the first ten years of operation they are expected to reduce emissions by 476 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Welcoming the development, Hydrogen Europe said that it was pleased to see an emphasis on hydrogen-related initiatives within the funding round. Among the projects, 26 focus specifically on hydrogen technologies. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, said: “With nearly a third of the awarded projects focused on hydrogen, we are taking decisive steps towards enhancing Europe’s clean energy infrastructure. The quadrupling of funded electrolyser capacity demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to securing essential goods and boosting the competitiveness of Europe’s clean tech industry.”
The Commission added that successful projects will sign their grant agreements during the first quarter of 2025. In addition, projects that were deemed “promising” but insufficiently mature to receive funding in this round will get project development assistance from the European Investment Bank.
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