Federal Fund for Industry and Climate Action: Module 2

Module 2: Funding information

• Which modules are in the funding guidelines?

  Which modules are in the funding guidelines?

  The funding directive for the Federal Fund for Industry and Climate Action (BIK) consists of two modules:

  Module 1: Decarbonisation of industry

  • Submodules: includes three submodules
  • Funding area: Projects for the decarbonisation of industry, including applied research and development
  • Project management agency: Competence Centre on Climate Change Mitigation in Energy-Intensive Industries (KEI), a division of Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH

  Further information about Module 1

  Module 2: Funding for CCU/CCS

  • Submodules: includes two submodules
  • Funding area: Application and implementation of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and carbon capture and storage (CCS), including applied research and development
  • Project management agency: Projektträger Jülich – PtJ, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH

  Funding body

  The funding is provided by the Ministry of Economics and Climate Change (German abbreviation: BMWK), which decides with due care while also taking account of the available budget. Funding can only be granted if it has an incentive effect within the meaning of Article 6(3)(b) of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). An incentive effect exists if the project cannot be carried out without this funding, or cannot be carried out significantly to the extent or significantly within the planned period desired by the funding recipient.

• How is funding provided?

  How is funding provided?

  The funding is granted as a non-repayable subsidy in the form of pro rata financing (grant). The grant is limited to a maximum amount. The module-specific regulations on the amount of funding apply.

  Funding can be provided on a cost („Kosten“) or expenditure („Ausgaben“) basis. An appropriate own contribution is required. The basis of assessment for the grants is the project-related eligible costs.

  For funding requests exceeding 15 million Euro for the investment sub-module co-financing by the respective state government is required. The federal government will provide a maximum of 70 per cent of the requested funding and only on condition that the 30 per cent state co-financing is provided.

• What is eligible for funding?

  What is eligible for funding?

  Funding in Module 2: Funding of CCU/CCS comprises two sub-modules:

  • Investment (GBER): Funding of up to 30 million Euro
  • Research and development (industrial research and experimental development, GBER): Funding of up to 35 million Euro

  Sub-module 1: Investment (GBER)

  Sub-module 1 supports investment projects on the basis of Article 36 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The funding for investment projects amounts to up to 25 million euros for dedicated infrastructure and storage facilities and up to a maximum of 30 million euros for other investment projects in sub-module 1. The funding intensity is up to 30 per cent of the eligible costs.

  The additional investment costs that are eligible for funding are determined by comparing the costs of the investment with those of the counterfactual scenario, i.e. a scenario without the funding. The counterfactual scenario must be credible in terms of the legal requirements, market conditions and the incentives created by the EU ETS system. By way of derogation, the eligible costs can be determined without determining a counterfactual scenario at the applicant's request. In this case, the eligible costs are the investment costs that are directly related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; the funding intensity is reduced by 50 per cent.

  Sub-module 2: Research and development (industrial research and exerimental development, GBER)

  Sub-module 2 funds industrial research and experimental development of technologies on the basis of Article 25 of the GBER. The funding intensity is up to 25 per cent for experimental development and up to 50 per cent for industrial research and feasibility studies. Further increases in funding intensity are possible for SMEs and for the conditions specified in Article 25 (6) (b) of the GBER (for industrial research and experimental development). The following research projects can be funded:

  • Industrial research: Funding of up to 35 million euros
  • Experimental development: funding of up to 25 million euros

  Feasibility studies: funding of up to 8.25 million euros
  In the case of mixed projects, the project is allocated to the category whose costs account for more than half of the total project costs. For industrial research and experimental development projects, the costs listed in Art. 25 para. 3 GBER are eligible for funding; for feasibility studies, the costs of the study are eligible.

• Who is eligible to apply for funding?

  Who is eligible to apply for funding?

  Individual companies and consortia that are planning or operating plants with CO2 emissions that are difficult to avoid as defined in the "Carbon Management Strategy" are eligible to apply for Module 2. A consortium consists of several eligible companies that manufacture or plan to manufacture one or more such products together in Germany.

  In the case of innovation projects (industrial research and experimental development projects) under sub-module 2, a consortium can also consist of several eligible research institutions, colleges, universities and at least one company.

  Projects for which funding is applied for must be realised within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the case of cross-border projects, only investments planned in Germany or project-related costs for research and development (material and personnel costs) are eligible for funding.

• What steps are there in the application process?

  What steps are there in the application process?

  The application procedure in Module 2 is organised in two stages, consisting of a project outline and a subsequent formal funding application.

  Stage I: Project outline submission

  In the first stage of the application process, the project coordinator submits a project outline to Project Management Jülich via the electronic application system "easy-Online". In the project outline (maximum 15 pages), the content and formal requirements for funding must be demonstrated and, in particular, the points under 6.2.2 (3) of the funding guideline must be observed.

  Stage II: Projek proposal submission

  The formal application phase begins once the project outlines submitted have been positively assessed and the project management organisation Jülich has notified the applicant of success in the first stage. Here, the authors of the positively assessed project outlines are requested to submit formal funding applications both electronically via "easy-Online" and in writing. The application forms provided for the respective type of funding must be used. In addition, applicants must submit a financing plan in which all contributions to the project must be specified.