The support rate is determined based on the nature of the eligible ecological investments (scope of application), the eco class, and the size of the enterprise on the date of the support application.

The support rate always falls within the limits of the maximum allowed aid rates set out in Chapter III, Section 7 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), and summarised below.

The support rate is applied to the additional ecological cost, resulting in the support amount.

The total support amounts to a maximum of €500,000 per enterprise over a period of three years. This period starts from the first approved support application.

Within one project, an enterprise may include several investments. An enterprise may also submit multiple projects. If you submit different projects together, the same start date applies to all investments.

The eco class is determined by the cost-effectiveness.

Cost-effectiveness is used as the evaluation method to determine the performance of a technology. The underlying principle of this methodology is that applications achieving greater environmental benefits at lower additional costs are granted a higher subsidy rate. Investments with a negative cost-effectiveness are not eligible for support.

Cost-effectiveness affects the support rate as follows:

• Projects with a high cost-effectiveness (CE) (high environmental benefit per euro invested, CE ≥ 1.5) belong to eco class A.
• Projects with a lower (but still sufficient) cost-effectiveness (CE < 1.5 but > 0) belong to eco class B.

The ReCiPe Endpoint (H) v1.07 LCIA method is used as the basis for calculating the environmental points. This is a scientifically substantiated and generally accepted method, which makes it possible to calculate environmental impact and further weigh it into a single eco-score.

Which costs are eligible?

To be eligible, the total project costs required to realise the investment must amount to at least €1,500,000. Of these project costs, engineering, investment costs and installation costs are taken into account as eligible costs. From these eligible costs, the cost of a standard investment is deducted in order to determine the additional ecological cost (see section 5.4). The aid is ultimately calculated as a percentage of this additional ecological cost.

Distinction between project costs, accepted costs, the ecological additional cost and the subsidy.

Project costs

A project must be sufficiently substantial in scale to be eligible for strategic ecology support. This is determined on the basis of the project costs. These include all costs required to carry out the project. The costs for pre-studies, infrastructure works, internal costs, engineering, investments and installation must together amount to at least €1,500,000.

For most projects, it is sufficient to estimate only the accepted costs (see section 0). Projects that do not meet the investment threshold based solely on the accepted costs must also estimate the other components of the project costs.

Accepted costs

Only invoiced costs from third parties are accepted. Third parties are other companies that are less than 25% related to the applicant (i.e. neither partner enterprises nor linked enterprises according to the EU definition).

The accepted costs include the following components:

• Engineering costs: calculations and dimensioning of the selected technology.
• Investment costs: the actual cost of the technology.
• Installation costs: the costs of installing the technology.

The investments must be depreciated in accordance with accounting legislation and over a period of at least three years.

Non-eligible costs

The non-eligible costs include the following components:

• Pre-study costs: analysis of the technical and/or economic feasibility of possible technologies, impact on the environment, etc. Costs for applying for permits, mandatory inspections, grants, etc. are also not accepted.
• Infrastructure works: costs for the construction of buildings, foundations, sewerage, roads, other civil engineering works, a new high-/medium-/low-voltage cabin including costs of cabling, etc.
• Internal costs of the applicant, including personnel costs, overhead and operating costs.
• Operational costs: the running/consumption costs of the investment, such as electricity, chemicals, etc.
• Costs for dismantling the old installation and adaptations to existing heat or water pipes are not eligible for support. New pipes are accepted as costs up until the distribution network; the costs of the distribution network itself is non-eligible.

The ecological additional cost

The ecological additional cost is the cost of the additional investment (excluding VAT) necessary to achieve the environmental objectives.

The additional investment is calculated by comparing the ecology investment with a conventional investment that is technically similar but does not allow for achieving the same level of environmental protection (= the standard investment). The comparison is based on equal production capacity. Furthermore, the savings and/or revenues during the first five years (updated to the European reference rate) of the useful life are deducted from the incremental cost.