The European Commission has approved a €408 million scheme to decarbonise the Spanish manufacturing industry, under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF).
The scheme, which aligns with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal, will be fully financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), following EU Council approval of Spain’s recovery and resilience plan.
It will seek to support the decarbonisation of manufacturing processes in existing facilities through investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency.
Decarbonising industry
Through this process, Spain expects to save around 1.6 megatonnes of CO2, through investment in areas such as electrification, shifting to renewable or low-carbon hydrogen, recovery of waste heat, and carbon capture, storage and utilisation.
The measures will apply across multiple sectors, including chemicals, ceramics, paper and metallurgy, and will be open to enterprises of all sizes, with support provided in the form of direct grants.
The level of support for each project will be determined based on eligible investment costs and pre-defined aid intensities set out under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework. The maximum aid amount per company per project is capped at €200 million, and projects need to be in operation at the latest 60 months after the aid is granted.
In a statement, the Commission noted that the Spanish scheme is in line with the conditions set out in sections 3 and 5 of the CISAF.
‘Necessary, appropriate and proportionate’
‘The Commission concluded that the Spanish scheme is necessary, appropriate and proportionate to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero economy and facilitate the development of certain economic activities, which are of importance for the implementation of the Clean Industrial Deal,’ the Commission said in a statement.
Approval was granted under Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which permits state aid to support the development of certain economic activities. Read more here.
