Environmental fund to resume grant programs put on hold by COVID-19

Croatia’s Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund is resuming grant programs for individuals and businesses following a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the resumption of regular activities in June, Siniša Kukić, the fund’s director, said that over EUR 79.3 million is expected to be approved under the grant programs by the end of the year, according to a statement on the fund’s website.

New public calls for grants will refer mainly to energy efficiency

New public calls for grants will refer mainly to energy efficiency, he said. The fund plans to continue with co-financing the energy renovation of family houses, covering 60% of project costs. For vulnerable groups, energy renovation costs will be covered in full.

Separate public invitations will be issued for the application of renewable energy sources in households and public institutions, as well as for agricultural households, according to Kukić.

Subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles will also resume

At the end of June and in early July, the fund will resume the program of subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs), of up to EUR 9.250 per vehicle. For this purpose, the fund has budgeted EUR 2.9 million for individuals and as much for legal entities, while a further EUR 1.3 million will be set aside for co-financing the installation of EV charging stations.

To support the further development of sustainable mobility, a public call for subsidies should be issued in September to co-finance the purchase of energy-efficient public transit vehicles using alternative fuels, with a budget of EUR 13.2 million, as well as for projects of integrated and intelligent traffic and the development of alternative fuel infrastructure, worth EUR 4 million.

In the field of waste management, the fund will co-finance the transportation of waste from islands to the mainland, while continuing with the procurement of more than a million waste sorting bins for Croatian cities and municipalities.