The European Commission has selected 77 European net-zero technology projects to receive funding support worth €3.4 billion under the call for net-zero technologies of the Innovation Fund.
“These projects show that Europe’s innovators are turning climate ambition into industrial leadership”, said Commissioner for Climate and Net Zero Wopke Hoekstra: “By reinvesting revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System into pioneering clean technologies, the Innovation Fund is helping companies get to market, cut emissions, and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.”
Spread across 23 countries in the European Economic Area, the selected projects represent a wide range of sectors, applications and technologies at different scales. It includes energy-intensive industries, renewable energy and innovative energy storage, cleantech manufacturing, net-zero mobility, critical raw materials processing and recycling, advanced alternative fuels, and industrial carbon management. For the first time, the list includes a small modular nuclear reactor project and a direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) project. It all also includes 6 Critical Raw Materials (CRM) projects, boosting the supply chains for clean tech applications, including rare earth permanent magnets and batteries.
The Commission estimates that the 77 projects have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding the equivalent of around 290 million tonnes over their first decade of operations. This corresponds to a rough reduction of one tonne of CO2 per second for a decade. This reduction, and the knock-on effects of the innovations across other sectors, will contribute significantly towards the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality goal.
The call supports projects in five different topics: general decarbonisation for large-scale, medium-scale, and small-scale projects, clean-tech manufacturing and pilots. All five topics were oversubscribed, says the Commission:
- Large-scale: 12 projects selected, requesting around €1.58 billion. This includes projects focused on advanced decarbonised fuels, industrial carbon management, chemicals, iron and steel, aviation, and a Critical Raw Materials Act Strategic Project.
- Medium-scale: 17 projects selected, requesting around €458 million. This includes projects working on chemicals, refineries, maritime, intra-day storage, glass, ceramic and construction materials, cement and lime, bioenergy, iron and steel, and hydrogen.
- Small-scale: 20 projects selected, requesting around €124 million. This includes projects from the following sectors: critical raw material recycling, maritime, pulp and paper, ocean energy, buildings, refineries, chemicals, hydrogen, advanced alternative fuels, and intra-day electricity.
- Clean-tech manufacturing: 12 projects selected, requesting almost €895 million. This includes projects working on the manufacturing of clean-tech components such as heat pumps, solar panels, electrolysers, and electric-vehicle batteries. It also features a facility producing rare earth magnets.
Pilots: 16 projects selected, requesting around €394 million. This includes projects focused on aviation, wind energy, ocean energy and maritime, nuclear energy, DACCS, hydrogen, chemicals, hydrogen and refineries.
84 additional projects passed the call evaluation, but did not receiving funding from the budget. Those projects, along with the 77 successful ones, will benefit from the STEP seal quality label, which facilitates funding from other private and public sources.
160 proposals are not grant recipients but remain eligible for Project Development Assistance (PDA). The PDA helps advance project maturity through high-quality technical and financial advisory support provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Descriptions of selected projects (IF25 NZT)
Results of previous Innovation Fund calls for proposals
Innovation Fund projects portfolio (with information related to the selected projects)
