CE Delft has evaluated the Innovation Fund (IF), together with its partners Ramboll, Wuppertal Institute and Climate & Company, in a study commissioned by DG CLIMA. The Innovation Fund is a major EU funding programme that supports the demonstration and deployment of innovative low-carbon technologies in energy-intensive industries, carbon capture and storage (CCS), renewable energy, energy storage, and mobility. It is financed through revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). This evaluation examines the Fund’s operation from 2020 to 2024 across all eligible sectors and countries in the European Economic Area. The study assesses the Fund’s effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance, and EU added value using desk research, surveys, interviews, case studies, and a cost-benefit analysis. CE Delft contributed by evaluating the ‘efficiency’ of the Fund and by conducting the cost-benefit analysis, demonstrating that the Fund leads to a positive net benefit for the EU as a whole. Overall, the Fund is found to play a key role in de-risking first-of-a-kind projects, accelerating deployment in hard to-abate sectors and leveraging substantial additional public and private investment. At the same time, stakeholders report barriers linked to administrative complexity, the funding rate ceiling and uneven access across technologies, sectors and regions.
The study concludes that the Innovation Fund remains key for achieving the EU’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets. Furthermore, it recommends simplifying procedures, strengthening coordination with national schemes and other EU instruments, broadening sectoral and geographical coverage, and improving impact monitoring.
You can download the report here.