{"id":20726,"date":"2026-06-02T06:26:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/?p=20726"},"modified":"2026-06-02T06:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:28:31","slug":"2025-innovation-fund-net-zero-technologies-call-recorded-over-350-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/2025-innovation-fund-net-zero-technologies-call-recorded-over-350-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Innovation Fund Net-Zero Technologies Call Recorded Over 350 Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The European Commission\u2019s 2025 Innovation Fund Net-Zero Technologies call<\/strong> (<strong>\u201cCall\u201d<\/strong>)<strong> attracted exceptionally high interest from industry, receiving 358 project applications from 27 EEA countries before its closure in April 2026.<\/strong> This strong participation demonstrates the growing momentum behind industrial decarbonisation and clean technology innovation across Europe, as well as the maturity of the project pipeline seeking EU support.<\/p>\n<p>Applicants requested a total of <strong>EUR 17.5 billion in funding<\/strong>, which is <strong>six times higher than the available EUR 2.9 billion budget<\/strong>, highlighting a significant investment gap in scaling net-zero technologies. If implemented, these projects have the potential to avoid approximately 1.1 billion tonnes of CO\u2082 emissions over their first decade, underlining their major expected climate impact.<\/p>\n<p>This oversubscription continues a trend seen in previous Innovation Fund calls and reflects <strong>strong and growing demand for EU financial support<\/strong> to commercialise innovative clean technologies. The initiative, funded through revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), plays a central role in helping European industry become both more competitive and climate-neutral. An important feature highlighted in this round is the <strong>STEP Seal (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform Seal)<\/strong>. This label is awarded to <strong>high-quality projects that meet Innovation Fund evaluation thresholds, regardless of whether or not they are selected<\/strong>. Use this <a href=\"https:\/\/strategic-technologies.europa.eu\/step-seal_en#step_seals_dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a> to access a list of current STEP Seal projects.<\/p>\n<p>The Call is closely aligned with key EU policy frameworks, including the <strong>Clean Industrial Deal, Net-Zero Industry Act, REPowerEU Plan, and the Critical Raw Materials Act<\/strong>. It aims to <strong>bridge financing gaps, mobilise private and public investment<\/strong>, and strengthen Europe\u2019s leadership in <strong>clean technology manufacturing and deployment<\/strong>. Notably, EUR 1 billion is dedicated specifically to cleantech manufacturing and critical raw materials value chains within the EU.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the Call\u2019s results show a <strong>broadening geographical participation<\/strong>, with project proposals coming from all 27 EEA countries and increasing engagement from previously underrepresented regions such as Malta, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Estonia, and Cyprus. This trend signals a more <strong>inclusive and widely distributed industrial transition<\/strong>, supporting the EU\u2019s long-term goal of achieving climate neutrality while fostering economic resilience and innovation across Member States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission\u2019s 2025 Innovation Fund Net-Zero Technologies call (\u201cCall\u201d) attracted exceptionally high interest from industry, receiving 358 project applications from 27 EEA &#8230; <a class=\"cz_readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/2025-innovation-fund-net-zero-technologies-call-recorded-over-350-applications\/\"><i class=\"fa fa-angle-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><span>\u010c\u00edst v\u00edce<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","iawp_total_views":0},"categories":[577],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20727,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726\/revisions\/20727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cbcsd.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}