Innovation Fund

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the world’s largest carbon pricing system, is providing the revenues for the Innovation Fund by auctioning off 450 million allowances from 2020 to 2030, as well as any unspent funds from the NER300 programme.

The Innovation Fund is a key funding instruments for delivering the EU’s economy-wide commitments under the Paris Agreement and supporting the European Commission’s strategic vision of a climate neutral Europe by 2050. The Innovation Fund is designed to take into account the lessons learned from its predecessor, the NER300 programme. It is bigger and better in several ways which include:

- Openness to projects from energy intensive industries

- Improvement regarding the risk-sharing for projects: its grants covers up to 60% of the additional capital and operational costs of innovation

- Provides support in a more flexible way, following the cash flow needs of the project through pre-defined milestones

- Simpler selection process

- Stronger synergies with other EU funding programmes

- Streamlined governance and simplified decision-making

The grants will be disbursed in a flexible way based on project needs, taking into account the milestones achieved during the project lifetime. Project proponents can apply by submitting their projects when there is an open call for proposals. The Commission aims to launch the first call in 2020, followed by regular calls until 2030. Please find all other financing details of the Innovation Fund on the programme website.