Updates to the GBER and the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework

The GBER update now allows Member States to support specific areas, namely:

• Increasing public support for environmental and energy projects to promote the deployment of renewable energy, decarbonisation projects, eco-mobility, biodiversity, renewable hydrogen technologies and energy efficiency
• Facilitating projects with applicants from several Member States, including projects of common European interest in research and development (IPCEI)
• Expanding opportunities for training and retraining across economic sectors by exempting training projects with an aid amount of less than EUR 3 million from the notification requirement
• Granting of block exemption for measures taken to regulate the prices of electricity and natural gas and heat they produce
• Significant increase in notification thresholds for public support in the fields of environment, research, development and innovation
• Extension of the current GBER until the end of 2026 to enhance legal certainty and regulatory stability

Following the approval of the amendment by the European Commission on 9 March 2023, the text of the amended GBER will be published in the Official Journal of the EU in the coming weeks and will enter into force the following day.

On the same day, the European Commission approved a new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework to support action in sectors crucial for the transition to climate neutrality. Together with the GBER update, the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework responds to the Green Deal for Europe industrial plan and allows for the following changes:

• Extends the possibility for Member States to introduce measures necessary for the transition to a climate-neutral industry, namely programmes to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, energy storage and programmes to decarbonise production processes, until the end of 2025.
• It will be possible to adapt existing measures to support the deployment of renewable energy sources, energy storage and decarbonisation of industrial production processes by (i) simplifying the conditions for granting support to smaller projects or projects with new technologies that are not yet proven in practice; (ii) extending the possibilities to support the deployment of different types of renewable energy sources; (iii) extending the possibilities to support the decarbonisation of industrial processes by switching to hydrogen-based fuels; and (iv) providing for a higher aid ceiling and simplified aid calculations.
• New measures applicable until 31 December 2025 may be introduced to further accelerate investment in key sectors for the transition to a climate-neutral economy, to enable investment support for the production of strategic equipment such as batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers and carbon capture and storage facilities, the production of their components, and investment support for the extraction and recycling of the necessary natural materials. In particular, Member States may take the following measures:

– Prepare simple and effective subsidy schemes that provide support at a capped rate up to a certain percentage of investment costs depending on the location of the investment and the size of the applicant. Small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as enterprises operating in less developed regions, are eligible for a higher level of support to ensure that cohesion objectives are met. Member States may provide an even higher percentage of support for investment costs through tax advantages, loans or guarantees.

– In exceptional cases, higher individual support may be granted to companies where there is a real risk of the investment being diverted away from Europe. In such a situation, Member States may provide either the amount that the beneficiary could have obtained for the same investment in an alternative destination or the amount of subsidy needed to encourage the beneficiary to locate the investment in the EEA.