Grants for Environmental Technology

The Environmental Technology Scheme is aimed at Norwegian enterprises of all sizes.

The enterprise must comply with international principles for corporate responsibility.

The scheme is aimed at enterprises that can provide a reasoned response to the question: How will the project contribute to solving an environmental problem? The EU Taxonomy defines what is ‘green enough’ for the Environmental Technology Scheme. Read more about this under the heading ‘The EU taxonomy is important’ below.

Environmental technology includes technologies, processes, solutions and services that are better for the environment than those currently in use. This is a broad definition that requires further clarification. A quantified description of the project’s environmental impact is required to be eligible for funding from the Environmental Technology Scheme. An account of any potential negative impacts of the project must be provided as well.

Environmental technology includes obvious solutions aimed at climate challenges, for example technology for renewable energy production or energy efficiency. It covers zero emission transport solutions, energy storage and energy systems, as well as purification technologies for air and water.

However, it also includes less obvious areas of technology such as more efficient resource utilisation, solutions for the transition to a circular economy and other specific environmental challenges.

Environmental technology also includes ‘enabling technologies’ when these have a direct or indirect positive environmental impact. These are far-reaching technologies that support other areas of technology and contribute to the development of new industries and new products. Examples of such technologies include ICT, biotechnology, and new materials/nanotechnology. These areas of technology can provide a basis for new, more environmentally friendly solutions in most areas of society, for example in food production, energy efficiency and transportation.

To be eligible for the Scheme, the environmental impact of the project must be described and quantified. The solution must be compared to the best available technology/solution on the market. Please use comparable quantities, such as CO2 equivalents, kWh or percentage improvement. Also describe any negative impacts the solution may have (for example, increased use of resources).

For more information on criteria for innovation projects, read here.

The Scheme is not relevant for reparative measures aimed at solving local environmental challenges, but with no potential for scaling, such as clean-up after previous emissions or compliance with environmental requirements imposed by the authorities.

The scheme does not cover routine or regular changes to existing products, production lines, production methods, services and work operations, even if such changes may constitute improvements.

Projects that do not qualify for the EU Taxonomy will not be prioritized for the Environmental Technology Scheme. This includes environmental technology projects within the petroleum industry. Measures that may reduce the environmental impact of oil and gas production in the short term, will in a life-cycle perspective still undermine the overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Aid cannot be provided for normal overheads and other operating costs. Only costs related to the project, additional to the enterprise’s ordinary operations, can be included. Marketing and sales activities cannot be supported, irrespective of whether the market is national or international.

The Environmental Technology Scheme may contribute to funding at different stages of a development project.

The purpose of the Scheme is to provide enterprises with an opportunity to test their solutions prior to commercialisation and to ensure that products are suitable for the national and international markets in which they will compete. The grant reduces the cost of project risk for the enterprise and other investors in the project.

The Environmental Technology Scheme is primarily aimed at supplier enterprises that develop environmental technologies for sale.

The grant will amount to a proportion of the total costs associated with the project, including personnel costs. Grants for the project activities mentioned below can be combined with innovation loans.

Grants from the Scheme must be provided in line with the relevant block exemptions (GBER) in the State aid regulation, and the scheme primarily covers the following activities:

Development activities (GBER 25)

The Scheme covers development activities intended to result in new products, processes or services. Research and development activities will often comprise several phases, from exploring ideas and hypotheses, and determining principles and concept testing, to building a prototype or full-scale demonstration model. All development costs are eligible for inclusion, although as a general rule Innovation Norway expects feasibility studies for research and development to be carried out by the enterprise on its own and for these to be included as a basis for an application to Innovation Norway for the main project.

Please note that this also applies to the development of new services. Market testing and marketing to pilot customers as part of the development are eligible for inclusion in the cost base. Partnerships between enterprises are encouraged where these result in greater competitiveness and can in some cases provide a basis for partnership bonuses.

Aid for additional costs of investments (GBER 36 and 47)

Within the purposes of the Environmental Technology Scheme, funding can also be provided for full-scale demonstrations of environmentally and climate friendly solutions. In these circumstances, the research and development work in the project will have been completed and the technology demonstrated for the first time at full scale.

Additional costs refers to the additional costs associated with the chosen environmental solution compared with conventional solutions.

The solution can have been developed by the enterprise itself or in partnership with a supplier. There are two main groups of projects that can receive aid for additional costs of investments:

Aid for additional costs of investments where new solutions are being introduced and demonstrated that are better for the environment than what the EU currently requires. In this case, the projects must explain the current EU requirements, how the new solution contributes to reducing negative environmental impacts in excess of these requirements and what the additional costs of this are. (Article 36 of the State aid rules)
A grant for up to 40% of the eligible additional costs can be provided for large enterprises, 50% for medium-sized enterprises and 60% for small enterprises. The rates can be increased by 5 percentage points in areas where rural policy applies.

Aid for additional costs of investments where new solutions are being introduced and demonstrated for recycling or reusing waste or solutions that make use of waste streams in new ways. This applies to enterprises that will process waste from other enterprises (i.e. not their own waste). (Article 47 of the State aid rules)
A grant for up to 35% of the additional costs can be provided for large enterprises, 45% for medium-sized enterprises and 55% for small enterprises. The rates can be increased by 5 percentage points in areas where rural policy applies.

Training aid (GBER 31)

An enterprise’s own employees often need training in connection with the implementation of new environmental technologies. This can also be supported through the Environmental Technology Scheme. Grants can cover up to 50% of the training costs for large enterprises, 60% for medium-sized enterprises and 70% for small enterprises.

Registration for the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER)

The Environmental Technology Scheme has been registered with the ESA in line with the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The following articles of the GBER apply to the Scheme. You can find more information about the individual articles of the GBER on the webpage about State aid rules. Please note that registration for the GBER in no way implies that all of these articles are used in practice.

1) Applies to feasibility studies for research and development that are eligible under Article 25 of the GBER.
2) Aid for large enterprises is contingent on partnering with an SME, where the SME must account for a minimum of 30% of the total costs eligible for aid.
3) Only applies to the additional costs for that part of the investments that result in greater environmental protection. The rates can be increased by 5 percentage points in areas where rural policy applies.
4) Applies to studies prior to environmental investments (Articles 36, 37, 41 and 47 of the GBER)

In order to qualify for funding by the Environmental Technology Scheme, the project must be eligible for the EU taxonomy.

The EU Taxonomy is a green classification system that translates the EU’s climate and environmental objectives into criteria for specific economic activities for investment purposes. It is a cornerstone of the EU’s sustainable finance framework and an important market transparency tool. The EU Taxonomy is a regulatory classification tool that helps investors, companies, and financial institutions to define a standardized understanding of which economic activities can be considered environmentally sustainable. It includes technical criteria that must be complied with in order for an activity to be considered sustainable.

​The EU operates with a technical committee that will determine what in fact are sustainable activities within the various commercial sectors. Sustainable projects/activities must target one of following six environmental objectives:

1. Climate change mitigation
2. Climate change adaptation
3. The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
4. The transition to a circular economy, including actions taken to prevent waste generation, promote recycling and manage resource exploitation
5. Pollutionprevention and control
6. The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems

In order to ensure that a given project/activity can be regarded as sustainable within the taxonomy, the following criteria will have to be met:

1. The project/activity must make a significant contribution to at least one of the six environmental objectives.
2. At the same time, the project/activity must not have a negative impact on any of the other five targets. This is important in order to ensure that by mitigating one environmental problem, a company does not create another.
3. It will also be necessary to meet the minimum requirements linked to social and governance conditions both in the workplace and the value chain.
4. Complying with the technical screening criteria set out in the Taxonomy delegated acts (for Innovation Norway; in the absence of relevant technical screening criteria for a project, a third party assessment may be accepted).

The EU Taxonomy Compass will provide detailed information on technical screening criteria for sustainable activities.

Grants from the Environmental Technology Scheme must comply with the State aid rules. This means:

The aid awarded cannot exceed the aid intensity specified for the justifying purpose of the aid. All forms of aid must be included in the calculation of aid. The aid is calculated as a percentage of the project costs, i.e. the cost items that are eligible for inclusion in the calculation basis. When aid is granted for the same project from several sources of public funding with different purposes, the total amount of public support measures for the aided activity or project shall be taken into account, regardless of whether that support is financed from local, regional, national or Community sources.

In the vast majority of cases, the aid must have an incentive effect, i.e. a triggering effect. The requirement for an incentive effect is addressed by the application being submitted before the project starts.

The State aid rules prohibit providing aid for certain ‘export-related activities’.

Aid cannot be provided to enterprises that are ‘in difficulty’.

Aid cannot be provided if the recipient of the aid is being prosecuted for an outstanding recovery order to repay unlawful State aid following a decision by the ESA.