These six projects aim to reduce 24.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the first ten years
Photo credit: European Commission / Innovation Fund
On 22 July, 2025, six projects from the Innovation Fund 2023 general call for Net-Zero Technologies (IF23 Call) reserve list have signed their Grant Agreements. This brings the total number of projects supported under this call to 83, notably including the first Innovation Fund project located in Luxembourg. Together, these six new projects will benefit from a total of nearly €319 million in grants financed via the EU Emissions Trading System.
These six projects aim to reduce 24.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the first ten years of operation. They will deploy innovative decarbonisation technologies in the hydrogen, hydro/ocean energy, energy storage (other) and refineries and chemicals sectors. In line with the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Clean Industrial Deal, these projects will contribute towards Europe’s transition to a net-zero economy and strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and clean technological leadership. Discover all the projects that have signed their Grant Agreements under the IF23Call.
The following six projects have signed their Grant Agreements:
- ARCaDe - Antwerp Refinery Carbon capture and DeNOx, located in Belgium (Total Energies)
- ECHO-WAVE - Energy Community for Hydrogen On-site Production from Wind and AgriVoltaics for Industry DEcarbonisation, located in Luxembourg (Green Power Storage Solutions)
- GRHENA - Green heat generation hub at the Chemical Industrial Park of Tarragona, located in Spain (Iberdrola Clientes Sociedad Anonima)
- H2M Eemshaven - Kick starting the EU hydrogen value chain by realizing a 1,000 MW low-carbon hydrogen production plant, located in The Netherlands (Equinor).
- LARS - First European large-scale integrated pre-treatment and chemical recycling plant for mixed plastic waste to generate pyrolysis oil as an alternative raw material for fossil-based raw materials, located in Germany (Green Dot Advanced Recycling)
- VianaWave - Accelerating the transition to net zero with large-scale generation of clean electricity from ocean waves, located in Portugal and Sweden (CorPower Ocean)
Currently, CINEA is evaluating the project proposals received under the Innovation Fund 2024 general call for Net-Zero Technologies (IF24Call). The Commission is also looking ahead to the upcoming Innovation Fund 2025 general call for Net-Zero Technologies (IF25Call), which is planned to launch at the end of 2025.
Background
The IF23 Call attracted 337 applications from 27 countries. Following eligibility and admissibility checks, 283 project applications were evaluated by independent experts against five criteria: degree of innovation, potential for greenhouse gas avoidance, project maturity, scalability, and cost efficiency.
The IF23 Call originally selected 85 projects to be invited to grant agreement preparation, out of which 77 signed their Grant Agreements in March 2025. Because eight projects withdrew from the grant agreement preparation process, the Innovation Fund invited the first six projects on the reserve list to sign grant agreements, utilising the budget released by the withdrawn projects.
With an estimated revenue of €40 billion (calculated with a carbon price of €75 per tonne of CO2) from the EU Emissions Trading System between 2020 and 2030, the Innovation Fund aims to incentivise cutting-edge, low-carbon and net-zero technologies, supporting Europe’s transition to climate neutrality.
Having already allocated around €12 billion, the Innovation Fund supports around 200 innovative projects across the European Economic Area (EEA). The European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment (CINEA) is responsible for the Fund’s implementation, while the overall management of the Innovation Fund is handled by the European Commission.
