Innovation Fund webinar: public consultation and stakeholder workshop for the upcoming IF26 Heat Auction

Public consultation

The IF26 Heat Auction was announced on 20 May during the 2026 Clean Tech Conference and the draft Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) were published on 22 May for the consultation period of 6 weeks (ending on 2 July).

The publication of the draft T&Cs kicked off a 6-week written consultation period that finished on 2 July.

Stakeholder workshop

On 7 July 2026, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action hosted a public consultation and stakeholder workshop to discuss feedback on the draft T&Cs for the Innovation Fund’s upcoming 2026 Industrial Heat Auction (IF26 Heat Auction), thereby concluding the public consultation process.

The workshop took place in Brussels and online.

• Recording
• Presentation

Please note that the purpose of this event was to discuss the stakeholder feedback on the draft T&Cs. Final Terms and Conditions are scheduled for publication in September. Only the official call for proposals, including the auction's call document, will be the definitive documents applicants must abide by.

Background

In 2025, the Clean Industrial Deal announced a new auction under the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank to promote the decarbonisation of key industrial processes (IF25 Heat Auction). Building on the successful model of the Innovation Fund’s Hydrogen Auctions, a similar approach was adopted for the pilot auction, focusing on the award and monitoring of projects based on their greenhouse gas emission reductions.

The IF25 Heat Auction attracted 85 bids and awarded 65 with nearly € 400 million in support, indicating a significant potential for industrial heat decarbonisation projects, but also that more time is needed for the market to respond to this new instrument. This has led to the decision to repeat the auction in 2026 with a budget of up to €1 billion, largely preserving the 2025 design but also featuring a significant simplification.

The draft T&Cs maintain the list of previously eligible technologies (electrification technologies such as heat pumps, electric boilers, resistance heating, induction heating, plasma heating and other solutions, as well as renewable heat) while also adding nuclear heat technologies.

In addition, the draft T&Cs feature a simplified approach to flexibility and interaction with the power sector to concerning the mandatory documents. A specific question concerning the cumulation of the support is asked to stakeholders in order possibly further refine the design.