The EU Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB) are to renew project development assistance to increase technical and financial advisory support for innovative decarbonisation projects.
The agreement under the EU’s Innovation Fund is aimed at providing support for projects that are either not selected via the Fund or are preparing to apply.
With the expanded scope, the Commission is more than tripling the budget available for EIB Advisory and this new Project Development Assistance (PDA) phase from €24 million to €90 million.
Under the renewed agreement, EIB Advisory will provide PDA to up to 250 projects between 2025 to 2028, offering broader sectoral coverage and a smooth application process.
With the expanded scope for broader coverage, the Commission has increased the budget available for EIB Advisory and its new PDA phase from €24 million to €90 million. This will further accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge decarbonisation technologies across Europe:
- New sectors such as net-zero and low-carbon mobility including maritime, rail and road transport, and buildings have been added to the mandate following the changes to the Emission Trading System (EU ETS) which included these sectors in the Innovation Fund project scope.
- New Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been added to help achieve geographical and sectoral balance and to promote small–scale projects as well as support immature projects.
Under the open PDA, promoters will be able to contact the EIB advisory services directly to receive advice. EIB Advisory will carry out an assessment to identify the eligible projects’ needs and the potential of the PDA to address these, substantially increase the maturity of the project and with it the chances of success in relevant Innovation Fund calls. PDA will be awarded on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis following this assessment.
