Sustainability consultancy grant
Established SMEs in Västra Götaland can receive a grant for external expertise on fossil-free materials, climate-smart transport, electrification or energy efficiency.
Tämän rahoitusmahdollisuuden kuvaus on toistaiseksi englanniksi.
Use Hållbarhetscheck to develop products, services or processes with external expertise. Climate-related examples include feasibility studies on fossil-free materials or climate-smart transport, electrification strategies for manufacturers and energy-efficiency strategies for production or operations. Resource-efficient and circular business models, products and services are also eligible examples.
You can apply for SEK 50,000–500,000. The check covers 50% of the total intervention cost, mainly external consultancy, with some material or training costs also possible. You must finance the remaining cost. VGR funding must be decisive for the work to go ahead, and the award cannot exceed what is needed or the funds available.
Marketing, patents and patent applications, certification and work required by law are excluded. The check does not cover investments or materials retaining permanent value after the work, already publicly subsidised consultancy, or travel.
The grant is reimbursed after the approved activities are completed and invoices paid. Keep original cost records and evidence of the grant in your accounts; VGR must be able to inspect the original records for seven years after payment. Provide information requested for follow-up. Funding must be used for the approved work. VGR can stop payment or require repayment if the conditions underlying its decision no longer apply. Incorrect information, an award you should have realised was wrong, unused or misused funds, or breached conditions can stop payment and require repayment. Recovery interest starts one month after the recovery decision at the state's lending rate plus two percentage points; the authority may reduce the claim or interest for special reasons.
Eligibility
- Your company must be an established SME in Västra Götaland operating on commercial terms with recurring sales. Businesses still developing without recurring sales normally do not qualify. VGR says the company should have at least two full-year employees and SEK 3 million turnover in its latest annual accounts; companies with fewer than 50 employees are prioritised.
- SME status means fewer than 250 staff and annual turnover no more than EUR 50 million or a balance-sheet total no more than EUR 43 million. Include proportional data from partner enterprises and all data from linked enterprises under EU rules. Ownership and control relationships matter: a holding of at least 25% can create a partnership, while voting, appointment or contractual control can create a link. Companies controlled through the same individual or individuals acting together are also linked when they operate in the same market or in markets directly upstream or downstream of one another. A company can remain independent despite holdings of at least 25% by public investment corporations, venture-capital companies, universities, non-profit research centres, institutional investors (including regional development funds), or autonomous local authorities with an annual budget below EUR 10 million and fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, provided those investors are not linked to it individually or jointly. The same exception covers business angels who regularly invest in unlisted companies, if their total investment in the company is below EUR 1.25 million. Public bodies controlling at least 25% of capital or voting rights normally prevent SME status, subject to these exceptions. Count staff as annual full-time work units, including relevant owner-managers, with part-year and part-time work counted proportionally. Use the latest approved annual accounts; crossing a size threshold normally changes SME status only after two consecutive accounting periods.
- Primary-production companies cannot apply. Publicly funded healthcare, care and education are excluded. Trade, transport and local-service businesses are normally excluded where support risks distorting local competition.
- Apply before the project starts. Pay and account for taxes and charges, and have no Swedish tax or charge debt with the Enforcement Authority, liquidation or bankruptcy. Wages and employment benefits must follow the relevant collective agreement or be equivalent to its industry terms.
- VGR assesses your overall finances, growth prospects, distributions to owners, need for support and alternative finance. Both the project and business must align with the regional development strategy. Where support is awarded for consultancy or business development under the Swedish regulation, the business must be assessed as capable of profitability and lasting employment.
The applicable state-aid route also affects eligibility. For business-development aid under section 17, normal operating costs are excluded. For SME consultancy under Article 18, eligible services must be external and cannot be continuous, periodic or normal operating services. For environmental or energy studies under Article 49, the funded part must relate directly to an investment eligible under the relevant EU environmental-aid rules; undertaking the later investment is not required. Mandatory energy audits are excluded unless the work is additional to the mandatory audit. These EU rules do not increase the check's advertised 50% contribution. An award under section 16 of the Swedish regulation must also require you not to apply for support for the same measure under Sweden's national Just Transition Fund programme.
For these block-exempted routes, outstanding recovery orders for unlawful Swedish aid prevent payment, and EU rules exclude undertakings in difficulty. For SMEs, difficulty includes insolvency proceedings or meeting creditor-triggered insolvency criteria, unrepaid rescue aid or an ongoing restructuring plan. For companies at least three years old, losing more than half of subscribed capital (limited liability) or recorded capital (unlimited-liability members) through accumulated losses is also a test. The regulation retains an exception for firms that were not in difficulty on 31 December 2019 but became so in 2020–2021.
If VGR awards de minimis aid, your company and businesses linked through voting or management control are treated as one undertaking. Total de minimis aid from Sweden must not exceed EUR 300,000 in any three-year period. Declare previous de minimis aid for that period. Same-cost aid cannot be combined beyond the applicable aid limit. This route excludes export-volume, export-distribution and domestic-over-import aid, and certain agricultural and fishery processing aid based on product price or quantity or passed to primary producers; separate accounts or activities are needed to keep excluded activities from benefiting.
How to apply
- Tila
- Jatkuva haku
- Hakukierroksen ehdot
- Processing and decisions for new applications and payment requests pause 15 June–15 August and 15 December–15 January.
- Awards are subject to available funds.
Apply to Västra Götalandsregionen through Tillväxtverket's Min Ansökan portal before starting the project. Submit a signed application describing the work and disclose other support sought or granted for the same purpose or eligible costs. Attach the last two years' annual accounts and auditor reports for the applicant and related companies, group accounts where applicable, and quotations. A complete application is required for processing.
Applications are accepted throughout the year. VGR processes and decides applications continuously except 15 June–15 August and 15 December–15 January, when new applications and payment requests are not processed or decided. An approved application receives a preliminary decision reserving funds.
After completing the approved activities and paying invoices, request payment through Min Ansökan. Attach a cost-record list, paid invoices matching the quotations, bank proof showing completed payments and recipients, and the completed final report with the last payment request. Information about the company and the support's purpose is published when support is awarded.