Modernisation Fund
The Modernisation Fund is a dedicated funding programme to support 13 EU Member States in their transition to climate neutrality, by helping to modernise their energy systems and improve energy efficiency. The Beneficiary Member States (BMS) are Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. The Modernisation Fund runs from 2021 to 2030, and the respective BMS are responsible for implementing the Modernisation Fund on their territory, as well as selecting and submitting investment proposals they would like to support from their Modernisation Fund share.
The Modernisation Fund primarily supports investments in six priority areas. Priority areas which are relevant to circular economy projects include:
- Electricity generation from renewable sources: For example, the Czech Republic received funding
for the installation of a new heat source designed for the combustion of biomass from the wood form pulp production and from sawmill located adjacent to the Mondi Štětí plant. - Energy efficiency. In an example from Poland, the scheme supports building or upgrading high-efficiency cogeneration units (except coal-fired ones) with a capacity of at least 0.5 MW, focusing on energy from waste heat, renewable sources, or alternative fuels like hydrogen.
- A maximum of 20% of the Modernisation Fund can also be used to support non-priority investments. Proposals that do not correspond to a priority area are subject to a technical and financial assessment by the EIB. Circular economy projects that do not fall under one of the priority areas can nevertheless receive funding as non-priority investments. For example, the Investment Committee recently approved a project in the Czech Republic for supporting the transition from fossil fuels to biomass in the heat supply sector.
The Hague, the Netherlands 
