BIK

BIK, in full Bundesförderung Industrie und Klimaschutz, is a nationwide grant programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The programme supports industrial companies on their way to greenhouse gas neutrality. It was published on 23 August 2024 and is designed to run until 2030. You receive a grant, not a loan and not a tax relief.

Unlike many other funding programmes, BIK does not run continuously but through annual funding competitions. In a call you submit a project outline and compete with your project against others. No call is currently open. BIK is the successor to the Dekarbonisierung in der Industrie programme and deliberately also takes on smaller and mid-sized transformation projects.

What stands out is the size of the funding. For capital decarbonisation projects, up to €200 million per company is possible. Even large production conversions can be financed with it.

Companies and consortia carrying out a project to decarbonise industry are eligible to apply. You need business premises or a branch in Germany, and the project itself must be carried out in Germany. Small, medium-sized and large companies are admitted; the funding rate depends on your company size.

In substance, BIK is aimed above all at the industrial Mittelstand and at companies with hard-to-abate emissions.

Your project must also reach a minimum size: €500,000 for small and medium-sized enterprises, €1 million for large companies. Companies subject to an outstanding recovery order from the EU or the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy are excluded.

Funding goes to projects that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of industrial production. This includes investments in the decarbonisation of production processes, the electrification of processes and the conversion to hydrogen or fuels derived from it. Plants for the capture, storage and use of CO2 are funded as well.

Alongside investments, BIK supports application-oriented research and development as well as feasibility and development projects in an industrial setting.

The decisive figure is the emissions reduction. To establish it, compare the emissions of your current process with the emissions of the planned plant. If the saving is below 40%, your project is not eligible. A complete reduction leads to the highest funding rate.

You receive a grant towards the eligible costs of your project. It is not repaid.

For capital projects, up to 40% of the eligible costs is provided. If your project avoids direct greenhouse gas emissions entirely, up to 50% is possible. Staggered by company size, the rates are up to 50% for small, up to 40% for medium-sized and up to 30% for large companies.

The ceiling depends on the type of project. For capital decarbonisation projects, up to €200 million per company is possible; for investments in the capture, storage and use of CO2, up to €30 million; and for research projects, up to €35 million.