Federal Funding for Energy and Resource Efficiency in Industry

Bundesförderung für Energie- und Ressourceneffizienz in der Wirtschaft

Country	Germany , applies nationwide
Time period	Open ended, started on 01 January 2019
Context	Green Transition
Type	Other initiatives or policies
Category	Promoting the economic, labour market and social recovery into a green future – Financing the green transition
Author	Lena Holtmeyer and Sandra Vogel (IW)
Measure added	21 July 2025 (updated 10 October 2025)

Background information

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) provides grants for companies and other actors that invest into reducing their energy and ressource consumption. Grants and loans are made available through a national funding guideline that was issued with the overall goal of reducing CO2 emissions in Germany and support companies and organisations in operating their businesses in a climate-friendly manner. The funding guideline consists of six modules and is open to companies and organisations of all sizes and from all sectors. The programme started in 2019. Since then, the funding guideline was revised several times.

Content of measure

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) issued a national funding guideline to support different actors in their efforts to improve energy and resource efficiency and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible for funding are domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, municipal companies, self-employed professionals or non-profit organisations. However, applicants need to be economically active and have a location/site in Germany.

Under the national guideline, the following measures are eligible for funding:

Installation of cross-cutting technologies (e.g. highly efficient electrical motors or pumps) Installation of technologies generating and using process heat from renewable energy sources Improving measurements, control and regulation technology, sensors, and energy management software Measures to optimise the energy and resource consumption of (dated) equipment and processes at the applicant's premises Setting up transformation plans for the applicant's premises Electrifying small businesses

The amount of funding depends on the size of the company or organisation and the project to be undertaken. As a maximum, up to € 100 million can be granted for single projects. The funding is provided either as a direct grant issued by the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) or as a repayment grant in combination with a low-interest loan from the KfW bank.

Use of measure

Between 2019 and 2023, 55,342 projects were funded, €2.9 billion in grants were disbursed, and €9.7 billion in investments were triggered (Frauenhofer, 2024).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds National Recovery and Resilience Facility

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

Unknown
Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No information to what extent social partners were involved in designing the funding guideline.

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