EU Innovation Fund - Verification of avoided emissions

What is the EU Innovation Fund?

Since 2021, the EU Innovation Fund has provided €10 billion annually for innovative technologies to decarbonize European industry for the period between 2020 and 2030.

New project rounds are launched annually for this purpose. Information on the current project rounds can be found on the pages of the EU Innovation Fund.

What does the EU Innovation Fund support?

Which technologies are supported by the EU Innovation Fund?

The target is technologies and innovations in the energy-intensive industrial sectors that are also integrated in European emissions trading. The revenues from European emissions trading serve as the basis in this grant model. The focus is on technologies from the fields of renewable energies, energy storage, carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon capture and utilization (CCU) and cross-cutting technologies.

The funding is aimed at technologies and projects that have already proven themselves in the development and research phase. The funding is intended to enable the construction and commissioning of pilot plants on an industrial scale.

Projects are funded flexibly depending on the stage of implementation and the effectiveness of the plant.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the plant, the emissions avoided compared to the reference scenario must be calculated and verified. The subsidy increases the higher the avoided emissions are, but is at least 60%.

What is the process of receiving funding from the EU Innovation Fund?

What are the prerequisites and requirements for the Innovation Fund?

External verification by an independent accredited body is mandatory for the verification of greenhouse gas balances and avoided emissions. The overriding requirement is that the verification is complete, independent and without conflicts of interest, i.e. that the verification body has not been involved in any way in the preparation of your balances and calculations.

In order to verify applications for the Innovation Fund, a valid accreditation according to ISO 14065, ISO 14064-2 or ISO 14064-3 is required in accordance with the requirements of the EU Commission (InnovFund-LSC-2021 Application form). GUTcert has all three of the above-mentioned accreditations, which can be accessed in the database of Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH.

Accredited certification bodies are regularly controlled by the accreditation bodies of the European states, in Germany this is the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS). Non-accredited certificates should be questioned very critically!

All globally valid accreditation rules are included in our DAkkS-accredited certification system. This ensures the international recognition of your certification. In addition, you benefit from the following advantages:

In a GUTcert audit, you receive valuable input beyond the mere confirmation of conformity, because our auditors have great expertise in their field and comprehensive industry knowledge
Do you operate globally? So do we: in association with our parent company, the AFNOR Group, we can carry out major international projects on a centralized basis with over 1,800 auditors worldwide.

We calculate the cost of verifying your financial statements individually, depending on the size and complexity of the project and the amount of data required.

What is the verification process for the Innovation Fund?

Your data and calculations as well as your measures are checked by an independent body - on the basis of your documents and, if necessary, on site. If identified deficiencies are demonstrably remedied, you will receive a certificate for your GHG balance.

More info / guide

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Frequently asked questions

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