Technical Assistance for Companies

The European Commission’s Covenant of Companies for Climate and Energy (CCCE) has launched on 15 June 2022 its first call for applications to its decarbonisation assistance programme for European businesses. The call is open to companies, groups of companies (co-located in the same area), authorities (national, regional or local) and other actors, such as associations, networks and energy service companies from Croatia, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland.

Applications for this call must be submitted by 30 September 2022 (the original application deadline, 31 August 2022, has been extended one month).

Successful applicants will benefit from a free, tailored programme of technical assistance from a team of experts in energy decarbonisation. The programme comprises:

• assistance in auditing businesses’ energy usage
• defining and implementing science-based targets for emissions reduction
• identifying technologies, methods and financing mechanisms that companies can access as they implement their targets

Indirect support (workshops, webinars, etc.) will also be foreseen for unsuccessful applicants.

“We know that 89% of European SMEs are taking at least one action to be more resource efficient. But many lack the resources and know-how to implement changes on the scale necessary for Europe to reach its ambitious emissions reduction targets before the end of this decade. With the assistance programme on offer, the Covenant of Companies will provide a leg up to participants, by helping them reduce their costs, making their business models more sustainable and by extension more competitive,” said Karen Clements, CCCE Project Coordinator.

This call is the first of two that the Covenant of Companies will run from June 2022 until the end of 2023. Each call will provide technical assistance to up to 50 European entities. The geographic scope will widen ahead of the second call in early 2023.