The European Commission has selected 77 projects to receive funding under the Innovation Fund call for proposals announced in December 2025. The total amount of funding is €3.4 billion, drawn from revenues generated by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). These projects come from various EU countries and span a range of sectors – from energy-intensive industries and ‘green’ energy to reducing the use of fossil fuels in aviation and shipping.
This was reported by the European Commission.
The spectrum of decarbonisation
The winning projects span 23 countries in the European Economic Area. The list includes technologies of various types and scales. These include projects in the following sectors:
- energy-intensive sectors — steel, cement and chemicals, as well as the production of advanced decarbonised fuels;
- manufacturing – this refers to equipment in the clean technology sector. Specifically, this includes heat pumps and electric vehicle batteries, as well as critical raw materials;
- renewable energy – the use of wind, solar and hydro power;
- mobility – reducing the use of fossil fuels in aviation, road transport and maritime transport.
The cumulative environmental impact of implementing all 77 projects is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 290 million tonnes over the first ten years. This is equivalent to a reduction in CO₂ emissions of approximately one tonne every second for a decade.
"These projects demonstrate that European innovators are turning climate ambitions into industrial leadership. By reinvesting revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System into clean technologies, the Innovation Fund is helping companies enter the market, reduce emissions and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness,” emphasised Wopke Hoekstra, the European Commissioner for Climate Action.
The winners of the competition were selected across five categories:
Large-scale general decarbonisation – 12 projects totalling €1.58 billion. The funding will be directed towards low-carbon fuels and emissions management in industry, particularly in the ferrous metallurgy and chemical sectors.
General medium-scale decarbonisation – 17 projects totalling €458 million. This group includes projects relating to chemical products, oil refineries, the maritime sector, glass, ceramics and building materials, cement and lime, bioenergy, cast iron and steel, as well as hydrogen.
General small-scale decarbonisation – 20 projects totalling €124 million. The projects presented here are from the critical raw materials processing sector, the pulp and paper industry, the construction sector, oil refining, the chemical and hydrogen industries, and so on.
Clean technology manufacturing – 12 projects worth €895 million aimed at the production of solar panels, batteries for electric cars, heat pumps, electrolysers and rare-earth magnets.
Pilot projects – 16 initiatives totalling €394 million.
In addition, 84 projects, although they did not receive funding, did pass the evaluation process. This may therefore help them to secure funding for their implementation from other sources – whether private or public.
It should be noted that Ukraine’s National Emissions Trading System has not yet been approved. There is currently one ministerial bill and three parliamentary bills, each of which proposes different options, including the use of funds generated by the NETS. A detailed comparison can be found in this article by EcoPolitic.
