site.btaEnvironment Ministry Presents Opportunities to Apply for Introduction of Decarbonization Technologies

Opportunities to apply for EUR 3.4 billion under the Innovation Fund for the introduction of decarbonization technologies were presented to businesses by Environment Ministry on Friday, the ministry said. 

Of these funds, EUR 2.4 billion are earmarked for clean technology projects and EUR 1 billion for the production of battery cells for electric vehicles. The deadline for applications is April 24.

Projects must be implemented in a European Union (EU) Member State or in Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

High-emission sectors covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) - for example, power generation, steel, cement and glass - as well as companies working in energy storage, renewable energy, maritime transport, aviation, are eligible for funding. 

"The aim of the Fund is to support projects in all sectors of the economy, with one of the main assessment criteria being the project's potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Maria Velkova, deputy head of a unit at the European Commission's Directorate General for Climate Action.

She said that there is a lot of competition at European level and often not all deserving projects get funded, so projects that meet the criteria are awarded a quality label by the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) for their contribution to the development of critical and emerging technologies. This makes it easier for them to seek national funding. 

Companies can now benefit from technical assistance from the European Investment Bank in developing their proposals, said Lara Tassan-Zanin, Senior Financial Engineering Manager at the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment (CINEA), and Radostina Petrova, Project Advisor at CINEA. 

Around 30 representatives of Bulgarian companies took part in the National Information Day organized today by the Ministry of Environment and Water at the House of Europe. 

The Innovation Fund is one of the world's largest programmes for the deployment of net zero and innovative technologies. It is funded from EU ETS revenues and has so far approved over 200 projects to which over EUR 12 billion will be allocated. The estimated budget of the Fund for the whole period 2020-2030 is EUR 40 billion, which depends on the price of allowances.

The European Commission published at the end of April last year its assessment of Bulgaria's draft updated national energy and climate plan and made recommendations for the country to raise its ambition in line with the agreed 2030 targets. 

In the third quarter of 2024, greenhouse gas emissions in the EU economy were 767 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, down 0.6% from the same quarter in 2023 (772 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), Eurostat reported. In Bulgaria, greenhouse gas emissions in the third quarter of 2024 increased by 0.034%.