GREEN investment support

Self-employed people, companies with legal personality, European economic interest groupings and non-profit associations carrying out commercial activities can apply. A partnership without legal personality (maatschap) is excluded. The investment site must be in the Flemish Region and registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. You may establish that site after applying, but it must exist when you carry out the investment.

• The investment must serve professional use and cannot be solely rented out. Primary agriculture, fishing and aquaculture activities are excluded, but a business in those sectors may receive support for another activity, such as a shop or B&B.
• Businesses in difficulty, in dissolution, cessation, bankruptcy or liquidation, under insolvency proceedings, or subject to an EU aid-recovery procedure are excluded. Businesses dominated by a public authority are normally excluded; public ownership of at least 50% creates a rebuttable presumption. Privately financed heat networks, shore power, energy sharing and industrial water treatment are exceptions.
• Every establishment covered by EBO Vlaanderen must join and comply with its energy policy agreement. For 2023–2026, this covers energy-intensive establishments using at least 0.1 PJ of final energy. The agreement uses an energy audit and energy plan to improve energy efficiency beyond the legal requirements. Check the official EBO coverage and commitments. You must retain and operate the investment, and comply with Flemish rules, for five years after completion. Completion is the latest of the final invoice, the deed for eligible property, or the signature of the final or only lease.
• Legally required investments do not qualify. Performance must exceed applicable standards; investment anticipating a future standard must be completed at least 18 months before that standard enters into force. You cannot receive other support for the same eligible investment costs, including the increased investment deduction.
• Wood or other biomass combustion, pyrolysis and gasification, batteries, transport technologies, solar PV, wind turbines, carbon capture for storage, new hybrid installations and equipment that is normally electric are excluded. Improving an existing fossil installation can qualify through additions; replacing it with a new, more efficient fossil installation cannot. Standard building insulation, windows, lighting and building energy-management systems are excluded. Air-source heat pumps for space conditioning, domestic hot water or swimming pools are excluded; other eligible space-conditioning technologies must serve non-residential buildings or care homes.

If your technology is on the Ecology Premium+ list but your type of enterprise is excluded from that scheme, you may apply through GREEN instead; the manual gives non-profit associations as an example.

A property company in the same group may carry out the investment: the operating company applies and receives the grant, while the property company records and depreciates the assets and makes them available for at least five years after completion. The group test is a direct or indirect holding of at least 25% between the two companies, or a person or entity holding at least 25% in both. Investment at another enterprise’s site is also possible if you operate it for the benefit of only that enterprise for at least five years; both enterprises must meet the programme conditions.

Investments are excluded if the additional environmental cost pays back in less than two years. This means the extra cost compared with the standard alternative is recovered through cost savings or revenues in under two years; it is not a test of the whole investment’s payback.

“Business in difficulty” is an EU financial-health test, not simply a business facing operational problems. VLAIO uses prescribed calculations from your accounts; linked enterprises require an additional group calculation. Use VLAIO’s official test and calculators. If the latest published accounts classify your business as in difficulty, you must remedy that position before submitting. Provide supporting documents and certified interim accounts no more than three months old at submission.

The guidance gives an exception for SMEs less than three years old. Small enterprises more than three but less than five years old may receive startup aid under Article 22 of the General Block Exemption Regulation, subject to its caps and specific obligations. For a group, the group’s size and the oldest linked enterprise’s age determine these exceptions; the insolvency and legal-status exclusions above still apply.

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Request a preliminary discussion with a VLAIO business adviser through the registration form linked from the application instructions. Then apply through e-loketondernemers with a project description, the Excel project budget and the enterprise-size determination. Explain the standard alternative, environmental benefits and permit status, and declare that the investment is not legally required and receives no other support.

Apply before starting. The earliest start is the first day of the month after submission, regardless of when approval arrives. Starting means the date of the engineering invoice or first purchase invoice, or signing a financial lease. For example, an application on 15 April allows a start from 1 May.

Applications are processed in submission order, provided missing information is supplied within 20 working days. After approval, start within 12 months and complete the project within three years of the award decision.

Payment is in two halves. Request the first after at least half of the accepted costs have been incurred, with invoices or leases and evidence that the assets are recorded in your accounts. Request the second within 12 months after project completion with the same types of evidence. The grant becomes final only after the reported costs are approved and may be revised if VLAIO finds irregularities.