Until 6 October 2025, the European Commission held a public consultation on its proposed revisions to the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) with the view of making State Aid rules clearer and more supportive of Europe’s clean energy transition.
Energy Efficiency for Europe has responded in support of the Commission’s initiative. Enabling public support for energy efficiency projects, including those delivered through Energy Performance Contracts (EnPCs) that are developed and delivered by ESCOs, is essential to unlocking large-scale energy efficiency projects that deliver guaranteed reductions in energy use and CO₂ emissions. This would thereby have the effect of accelerating decarbonisation.
However, under the current GBER framework, many ESCO-led projects are unintentionally prevented from qualifying for aid, particularly those delivered through Energy Performance Contracts (EnPCs). This problem originates in Article 36, which currently limits eligibility for environmental protection and decarbonisation aid to entities whose own activities directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under this definition, an ESCO implementing an EnPC to cut a client’s energy use cannot be considered a “beneficiary”, even though the ESCO guarantees and verifies the resulting energy and CO₂ reductions. Article 38 likewise excludes projects carried out under a project structure involving a third-party investor from the scope of aid, since in such cases ESCOs cannot qualify as direct beneficiaries.
In order to best facilitate ESCOs’ activities, including energy performance contracting, and to ensure compatibility with the practical financing arrangements used by industrial actors for energy efficiency projects, Energy Efficiency for Europe therefore calls for the amendment of provisions of the GBER. Specifically:
• In each of paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of Article 36 (2), add: “where the project is implemented under a third-party financing mechanism, the improvement in environmental protection may also result from the activities of another entity involved in the infrastructure chain.”
• At the end of Article 38a (8), add: “or, where this is done under an energy performance contract or a third-party financing mechanism.”
• Article 38 should simply refer to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as eligible beneficiaries of aid to facilitate the conclusion of EnPCs, without imposing conditions on the size of their energy service providers. This possibility should apply regardless of the size of the ESCO, and the aid should depend on the size of the beneficiary of the project.
Moreover, if the GBER is revised, Energy Efficiency for Europe calls for the Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (CEEAG) to also be reopened to pursue the same objectives, as well as for a bonus in the intensity of public support to be granted to projects based on guaranteed performance, in order to ensure that projects supported by State aid achieve and deliver the expected energy performance and CO₂ emissions reductions.