Proposals are expected to focus on one of the two scopes below. The scope addressed should be specified in the proposal’s introduction. In case a proposal addresses elements of more than one scope, this should be justified.

Scope A: Green Leap Forward for businesses:
Under the EED recast, energy management systems will become a default obligation for the energy-intensive enterprises, including SMEs, that exceed 85TJ of average annual energy consumption over the past 3 years. The implementation of energy audit recommendations is not mandatory, however they shall result in a concrete and feasible Action Plan, provided by the enterprise and transmitted to the management of the enterprise.

Applicants under this scope shall strengthen collaboration between Member States on energy audits and energy management systems, with a view to facilitating a harmonised approach and the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures.

Proposals are expected to investigate and propose solutions on how to approach businesses near the thresholds and those falling in different thresholds over the last three years before the energy audit obligation.

Applicants shall propose measures that can encourage businesses with an average annual consumption between 10TJ and 85TJ of energy towards an energy management system, and businesses with an average annual consumption of less than 10TJ of energy to undergo an energy audit and implement at least one highly cost-effective recommendation.

Applicants shall develop a template for the Action Plan which shall identify measures to implement each audit recommendation, including the potentials for the cost-effective use or production of renewable energy. In addition to energy savings and estimated costs, the template shall include a clear methodology for quantifying and valorising the non-energy benefits triggered by the implementation of the recommended measures. In this regard, applicants shall facilitate the uptake of such template and methodology in relevant international and European standards as well as national policy frameworks by involving relevant stakeholders, such as standardisation bodies and national authorities responsible for the implementation of Article 11 of the EED recast.

Digitalisation, eco-labelling of businesses, follow-up systems for checks on the implementation of measures, benchmarking mechanisms between companies and exploitability of energy data could also be addressed.

Scope B: Fostering energy cooperation among companies:
Proposals under this scope should foster the market uptake of energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy (and heat pumps where relevant), through the establishment of collaborative approaches among companies. Applicants can focus on developing collaborative approaches, namely between large and small companies operating in the same value chain, or on energy cooperation among companies in physical proximity (region, cluster, industrial park/site).

Energy cooperation and collaborative approaches refers to, for example, companies working in the same value chain and holding business relations. The value chains addressed can operate at any level (from local to European, and international when relevant). It can also refer to companies in physical proximity (region, cluster, industrial park/site) sharing energy related assets (e.g. renewable energy generation, energy networks, energy storage), sharing energy services, implementing energy exchanges (e.g. recovery and use of waste heat from industrial and manufacturing processes) or being involved in energy communities. Clustering of companies can also facilitate better access to finance, ESCO contracts and power purchase agreements (e.g. aggregators).

Proposals are expected to carry out activities aiming at triggering interest, awareness, knowledge and know-how on the multiple benefits achievable from collaborative approaches. Proposals should also work on removing barriers that hinder energy cooperation, e.g. organisational (coordination, trust, responsibilities, data management, risk sharing), legal or social.

Proposals should facilitate the establishment of concrete cooperation initiatives, including but not limited to identifying, investigating and validating economically viable business models (based on concrete interaction with participating companies), proving the relevance of a collaborative approach in terms of value creation for each involved actor (e.g. buyers/suppliers/final users) as well as in addressing the untapped potential of energy efficiency and renewables at each step of the process (e.g. upstream to downstream in the case of value chains).

The proposed activities should be focused on engaging businesses in energy cooperation activities; the involvement of additional relevant stakeholders (e.g. industrial organisations, multipliers, financial players, ESCOs, public authorities) should be envisaged to ensure the success and the sustainability of the developed collaborative approach.

The proposed approaches should demonstrate a high degree of replicability and proposals should include a clear action plan to communicate experiences, critical success factors and results towards relevant energy cooperation actors and stakeholders across the EU.

For all Scopes, the Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to €1.75 million would allow the specific objectives under Scopes A and B to be addressed appropriately.