Climate-neutral and resilient municipalities
Grants for Swedish municipalities and regions working with researchers on climate neutrality or resilience while improving social sustainability and places to live.
Tämän rahoitusmahdollisuuden kuvaus on toistaiseksi englanniksi.
Develop a project idea and partnerships, or build on an earlier funded project to develop and scale up solutions. Each project must address either climate neutrality together with social sustainability, or greater resilience together with social sustainability and a particular focus on how design can improve places to live. Examples include lower-emission construction and renovation, climate adaptation, sustainable mobility and inclusive design of public places.
Preparatory projects can request SEK 1–2 million for 12–18 months. Follow-on projects can request SEK 1–4 million for 12–24 months, but the grant must average no more than SEK 2 million per project year: a 12-month follow-on project is therefore capped at SEK 2 million. A project's total costs can be higher if partners finance the difference. All projects in the 2026 round have a fixed start of 1 March 2027.
The call has no additional general cofinancing requirement, but each partner's activity determines its funding rate. Activities that do not offer goods or services on a market can receive up to 100% of eligible costs. Organisations also doing economic activities must separate their accounts and ensure the grant does not benefit those activities, and certify this in the application.
For economic activities, the maximum is 50% for industrial research—new knowledge to develop or substantially improve products, processes or services—and 25% for experimental development, which uses existing knowledge to develop improvements. The call's higher rates are 65% and 40% respectively, regardless of company size. The bonus requires collaboration with research organisations that bear at least 10% of eligible costs and can publish their own results, or wide dissemination through conferences, publications, open databases or free open-source software. Partners must cover costs that their grant does not finance.
Eligible costs include project staff, project use of equipment, buildings or land, external consultancy and licences, necessary materials and travel. Equipment and building costs follow the project-use and depreciation rules. Consultancy above 20% of a partner's budget requires a fuller justification; it is not a hard cap. Budget around 5–10% of the project total for the expected joint meetings and activities. Costs must be actual, auditable, borne by the partner and incurred during the approved project period, without double funding.
Actual overhead is normally capped at 30% of eligible personnel costs. Universities and higher education institutions use their full-cost method. A 45% cap applies to non-economic work by state-controlled research companies, research foundations with government-appointed board members, and other government agencies required to conduct their own research, provided they receive government funding for independent research. They must separate economic work, which uses the 30% cap.
Eligibility
- Form a team of 2–5 legal entities. A municipality, region or municipal association must coordinate, with at least one university, higher education institution or research institute as a partner. At least one participating researcher must hold a doctorate by the application deadline. The project leader must be attached to the coordinator. Up to three additional partners can come from business, civil society, the public sector or research.
- Funded partners must be Swedish legal persons operating in Sweden. International organisations may participate using their own or other funding but cannot receive Formas support. Sole traders cannot be partners. A partner cannot both receive Formas funding and finance another partner in the same project.
- Start from a clearly defined, prioritised challenge in the municipality or region, with support at decision-making level and potential for lasting change. Address at least one of the call's two themes and remain within Formas's remit.
- Follow-on projects must build on an earlier funded project that started in 2020–2025. Eligible earlier funding includes “Klimatneutrala och socialt hållbara kommuner 2024 – förberedande projekt”, “Klimatneutrala och inkluderande kommuner – förberedande projekt”, Horizon Europe, or a project funded by ArkDes, Myndigheten för civilt försvar, Vinnova, Energimyndigheten, Formas or another funder on the national sustainable spatial planning programme committee. It must not already have received funding under “Klimatneutrala och socialt hållbara kommuner 2024 – påbyggnadsprojekt (spår 2)”. State the earlier funder, reference number, start date and how the new work builds on it. These prior-project rules apply to follow-on projects.
- Partners carrying on business must be registered for F-tax. Partners budgeting staff costs must be registered employers by the closing date. Partners must have the organisational and financial capacity to deliver; they cannot be insolvent, bankrupt, in liquidation or restructuring. Limited companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital. Project costs cannot be covered with other public grants or with your own funds earmarked for other projects.
- The coordinator receives and distributes the grant according to Formas's decision. Partners must approve the terms, report costs and results and participate in the joint learning activities coordinated by ArkDes and the research programme's networks. A partner receiving at least SEK 3 million normally needs an auditor's certificate, with up to SEK 30,000 of eligible certificate costs. Municipalities, regions and government agencies may use internal auditors; universities and higher education institutions are normally exempt unless the decision says otherwise. Ineligible or unearned support must be repaid.
How to apply
- Tila
- haku päättynyt
- Haku alkaa
- Haku päättyy
- Hakukierroksen ehdot
- 2026 round; the deadline was extended to 17 September because of technical problems in Prisma.
The 2026 round is closed. Apply in Swedish through Prisma. For a preparatory project select “Innovationsprojekt”; for a follow-on project select “Nyttiggörandeprojekt”. The coordinator's organisation-account manager creates the application and can invite the project leader to help complete it. Only the organisation-account/application manager can register it; this call is visible through the organisation account.
Include costs and financing for every partner and all required application fields. Upload CVs for all key people as a single PDF, using no more than one A4 page per person. Follow-on applications must identify and explain their connection to the earlier project. Non-economic applicants must provide the required declaration on separate activities/accounts.