Today, Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst program launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) to support emerging climate technology projects located in the European Union, Iceland, and Norway. This RFP is the next step in the EU-Catalyst partnership, which will mobilise investments to accelerate the development of critical climate technologies needed to achieve net-zero. Catalyst will provide project-level financing for initiatives across four areas that will reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors:
- Clean hydrogen
- Direct air capture
- Sustainable aviation fuel
- Long duration energy storage
Catalyst will provide selected projects with one or more of the following forms of catalytic support:
- Equity investment: minority investment into a project that will be more risk tolerant and at a lower investment rate of return than traditional equity investors
- Grant funding: non-dilutive funds that do not require repayment to Catalyst
- Offtake agreement: agreements that will be negotiated between Catalyst partners directly with project developers for the purchase of project output
In addition to the above Catalyst funding, projects selected from this RFP may be considered by the European Commission and European Investment Bank to receive blended financing under the InvestEU Programme. Together, the EU-Catalyst partnership seeks to mobilise up to €820 million ($1 billion) between 2022 and 2027 to accelerate the deployment and rapid commercialisation of innovative technologies that will help meet European Green Deal ambitions and achieve the EU’s 2030 climate target.
About Breakthrough Energy Catalyst
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a first-of-its-kind model to finance, produce, and buy the new solutions that will underpin a zero-carbon economy. Catalyst brings together the public and private sectors to fund commercial-stage demonstration projects for critical decarbonization technologies. Catalyst will address the early deployment funding gap for these technologies and provide a structure to accelerate their commercialization. Catalyst will start by funding projects across four technologies: direct air capture, green hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel.
