The EU launched two calls for proposals Tuesday with EUR 3.4 bn to accelerate deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies and a EUR 1.2 bn auction to accelerate production of renewable hydrogen.
The European Commission has begun the first week of its new mandate by stepping up EU efforts to boost net-zero technologies, seen as key to ensure the competitiveness of European industry while meeting climate goals.
The second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank will accelerate the production of renewable hydrogen in the European Economic Area (EEA) with a budget of €1.2 billion from EU funds, as well as over €700 million from three Member States.
Both calls for proposals and the auction are financed by the Innovation Fund, using revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
All three calls include new resilience criteria to boost European industry. The batteries call and hydrogen bank auction will also include specific resilience criteria to protect Europe against dependency on a single supplier.
The general call for net-zero technologies worth €2.4 billion (IF24 Call) supports decarbonisation projects of different scale, as well as projects focusing on the manufacturing of components for renewable energy, energy storage, heat pumps and hydrogen production.
Projects that apply to the Net-Zero Technologies Call will be assessed based on their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, degree of innovation, project maturity, replicability, and cost efficiency.
A €1 billion call for electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing (IF24 Battery) will support projects that can produce innovative electric vehicles battery cells or deploy innovative manufacturing techniques, processes and technologies.
Question & Answers on the Innovation Fund calls on Net-Zero Technologies and Batteries
Results of previous Innovation Fund calls for proposals