The Climate Innovation Voucher scheme is launched in Belarus, aimed at increasing SMEs’ competitiveness to develop, implement climate technologies and support ecosystem for clean-tech SMEs. Grant funds supported by EU under EU4Climate initiative.
Climate Innovation Vouchers (CIV) scheme, aimed at the development and improvement of climate technologies and supported by the EU through its EU4CLIMATE initiative is introduced in Belarus. Since the launch in 2017, it has been successfully implemented in a number of economies and will now be rolled out in the eastern European state with a population of almost 10 million people. Grant funding and technical support under the scheme will be available to eligible local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) willing to develop innovative clean technology solutions.
Belarusian SMEs will be able to tap into CIV funds worth €500,000 and receive grants of up to €50,000 to develop climate innovations, green technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy consumption. Project applications from Belarusian SMEs were accepted on 6 May 2021 onwards.
SMEs legally registered in Belarus at least 1 year before the project submission date could cover up to 75% of expenses for development of new green products or approaches. Applications, key selection criteria, registration for service providers will be available electronically on website: https://climate.biz/.
The scheme will be jointly implemented by an ecosystem NGO Greencubator, that promotes climate innovations and green economy solutions and CIVITTA, a leading consulting and research company in central and eastern Europe. The latter will be providing field presence in Belarus and use its analytical and research resources. Civitta organized the launching event on 6 May to present the rules and procedures of the CIV scheme.
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The European Union supports implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation projects in the six Eastern Partnership countries as part of its EU4CLIMATE initiative with a contribution of €15.4 million in grant support, including to the Climate Innovation Voucher Scheme in Belarus. EU4CLIMATE aims to assist EaP countries in implementation of their climate commitments and introduction of climate-sensitive policies and actions. Find out more here: euneighbours.eu; eu4business.eu.
Greenсubator develops the ecosystem for sustainable entrepreneurship, climate innovations, and a green economy in Ukraine. The main goal of Greenсubator is to increase the number of players and developers of climate-positive innovations in the green economy, helping them attract investment and enter global markets and thus contribute to the development of a low-carbon economy in Ukraine.
CIVITTA is a leading independent management consultancy in Emerging Europe. The company operates in 15 countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. CIVITTA provides management consulting and implementation services to corporations, start-ups, SMEs, governments and NGOs, delivering great value for money price point.
