Assistance to compensate companies for indirect emissions costs (Indirect carbon leakage)

Any company with a production site in Wallonia in one of the targeted sectors or sub-sectors.

In order to benefit from this aid, you must satisfy all the following conditions as a minimum:

• certify by a sworn declaration that the company complies with the legal provisions governing the exercise of its activity and with regard to the tax, social and environmental regulations and legislations and commits to comply within the deadlines fixed by the competent administration;
• operate an installation in Wallonia;
• provide a validation report;
• not be subject to a pending recovery order following a previous decision by the European Commission declaring illegal aid incompatible with the internal market;
• commit to an energy efficiency process. This involves an energy audit conducted by a certified auditor, followed by the implementation of the recommendations resulting from the audit. Different scenarios are possible and are detailed in the explanatory brochure;
• not be a company in difficulty within the meaning of points 20 to 24 of the Guidelines (2014/C 249/01); see explanation in Useful Documents.

The maximum amount of the aid payable per installation for the manufacture of products in the sectors and sub-sectors listed in Annex I of the Guidelines will be calculated according to the following formula:

1. Where the efficiency benchmarks for electricity consumption listed in Annex II are applicable to the products manufactured by the beneficiary, the maximum aid payable per installation for costs incurred in year t (Amaxt) is:

Amaxt = Ai x Ct x Pt-1 x E x AOt

In this formula,

Ai is the aid intensity for year t, expressed as a fraction (i.e. 0.75);

Ct is the applicable CO2 emission factor or market-based CO2 factor (tCO2/MWh) (for year t);

Pt-1 is the EUA futures price for year t-1 (EUR/tCO2);

E is the applicable efficiency benchmark for product-specific electricity consumption as defined in Annex II. This reference is reduced annually, see the explanatory brochure ;

AOt is the actual production in year t;

2. Where the efficiency benchmarks for electricity consumption listed in Annex II are not applicable to the products manufactured by the beneficiary, the maximum aid payable per installation for costs incurred in year t (Amaxt) is:

Amaxt=Ai x Ct x Pt-1 x EF x AECt

In this formula,

Ai is the aid intensity for year t, expressed as a fraction (i.e. 0.75);

Ct is the applicable CO2 emission factor or market-based CO2 factor (tCO2/MWh) (for year t);

Pt-1 is the EUA futures price for year t-1 (EUR/tCO2);

EF is the fallback efficiency benchmark (i.e. 0.8) for electricity consumption. This reference is reduced annually, see the explanatory brochure ;

AECt is the actual electricity consumption (MWh) in year t.

If an installation manufactures products for which an efficiency benchmark for electricity consumption mentioned in Annex II is applicable and products for which the fallback efficiency benchmark for electricity consumption is applicable, the electricity consumption corresponding to each product will be calculated in proportion to its production tonnage.

If a facility manufactures both products that are eligible for aid (i.e. in the eligible sectors or sub-sectors listed in Annex I) and products that are not eligible for aid, the maximum aid payable is calculated only for the products eligible for aid.

Note: the Decree of the Walloon Government of 21/12/2022 organising the granting of a subsidy to companies to compensate for indirect emissions costs states in Article 2 that "the total amount of aid is weighted annually by the Minister of Economy, according to the total amount of eligible applications in relation to the budget allocated for this aid".

For the year N indirect emissions compensation:

There is electronic filing in accordance with the following modalities:

1. The complete electronic file will include:

• the electronically signed application form in Excel format. The file will be named "CLI - SPW 2021 FORM name of your company.xlsm";
• the electronically signed validation certificate from a certified auditor;
• the "Site Data" annex, as well as any other annex necessary to explain the application. The format will be Acrobat Reader (.pdf), or any other format readable by MS Office 365.

This file must be sent to the following email address:

dpi@spw.wallonie.be

2. The electronic file must be submitted by 15 March 2023.

Each submission will be acknowledged.

The supporting documents to be provided by the user are indicated on the application form and in the explanatory brochure (downloadable from the "useful documents" section of this procedure).

There is no fee for applying for aid.  The appeal options are always stated if aid is denied.

Every effort is made to process applications within a reasonable timeframe, which may vary depending on the complexity of the file, requests for additional information, requests for advice and, where appropriate, to assess the grant and the budgetary availability of the aid scheme.

Grants for costs incurred in year N are paid in year N + 1.

Please contact the Administration directly for help with your administrative procedures.

The aid application must be completed in French or German.

• Decree of the Walloon Government organizing the granting of aid to companies to offset the costs of indirect emissions between 2021 and 2030
• Communication from the Commission Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading post-2021 2020/C 317/04
• Communication from the Commission supplementing the Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading post-2021 2021/C 528/01