Subventions des PME pour la Transition

On January 28, 2021, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and ADEME launched a new system to support SMEs in their ecological transition. Concretely, ADEME awards significant grants (from €5,000 to €200,000) to businesses for finance the necessary studies and investments to their transition to a low-carbon model (example: up to €5,000 in grants, for a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment).

The context of the recovery plan

This initiative comes at a key moment in France, where citizens, businesses and public authorities are particularly attentive to climate issues (citizen climate convention, referendum project, repeated extreme climate events - fires in Australia and Siberia, fires in Australia and Siberia, heatwaves that are repeated in France, etc.).

This news is also reflected in the law. Thus, as part of the recovery plan in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the law passed at the end of December 2020* requires companies with 50 to 250 employees, who will benefit from the credits under this plan, to assess their greenhouse gas emissions (BEGES) before the end of 2023. Previously, this obligation only concerned companies with more than 500 employees (250 for public establishments).

Which businesses are eligible?

The ADEME grant program concerns all VSEs and SMEs (SA, SAS, SARL... etc.), with the exception of auto-entrepreneurs, who have fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than 50 million euros (ADEME refers to the definition of SMEs in the sense of European regulations, here).

What studies and investments are eligible for grants?

As mentioned above, several types of studies and investments in favor of the transition are eligible to grants.

You will find the exhaustive list of eligible actions defined by ADEME here and a detailed description there. Here are a few examples, including the first step in assessing GHG emissions and developing a reduction strategy, the decarbonization of your mobility (light vehicle or heavy goods vehicle) or even your infrastructure (building insulation, lighting, lighting, commercial refrigeration equipment or building insulation):

GHG emissions balance: The completion of a greenhouse gas emissions assessment (BEGES) covering direct and indirect emissions —> the subsidy may reach 80% of the price, up to a limit of €5,000. This assessment must be in accordance with the regulatory method or international standards in force (ISO 14064, ISO 14069) and must necessarily include a proposed action plan.
Building renovation: Energy renovation work with the objective of reducing energy consumption by 50% —> the grant can reach up to €5,000.
Mobility: Clean vehicle fleet : The replacement of your fleet of so-called “thermal” vehicles (gasoline or diesel in particular) by electric vehicles, including heavy vehicles.
Lighting: The LED lighting installation, which makes it possible to significantly reduce electricity consumption compared to conventional light bulbs.
Commercial refrigeration equipment: The insulation of refrigerated display cabinets; the replacement of fluids in commercial refrigeration equipment by fluids that have less of an impact on global warming.
Insulation and ventilation of industrial buildings.
Circular economy and waste management (examples: inventory, diagnosis to reduce packaging, etc.).
Eco-design and labelling (example: first step in eco-design via awareness-raising/training in the process by a professional, implementation of the European eco-label).

What is the procedure to follow to obtain these grants?

Contact the Keewe team at climat@keewe.eu, we will explain to you the procedure to follow.

In a few words, you must fill in the “ADEME Springboard for ecological transition” file, to identify your company and select the studies/investments for which you are requesting grant (s).

ADEME will not grant you a grant if the amount of the aid is less than €5,000 or greater than €200,000 (attention, this is the amount of the aid - and not the price of the services - which must be between €5,000 and €200,000).
ADEME will ask you to attach an estimate to the file for most of the studies and/or investments for which you will be applying for a grant (you can find out if an estimate is requested by consulting the excel file).
Some grants are only awarded to companies in very specific sectors of activity (based on the APE/NAF code) or geographical areas (examples: sustainable tourism, industrial buildings).
Studies/investments that do not appear in the list provided by ADEME are not eligible for grants.