2025 CALLS FOR "BUSINESS PROJECTS GENERATING EMPLOYMENT" AND "SMALL INVESTMENT PROJECTS THAT GENERATE OR MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT" IN JUST TRANSITION ZONES SCHEDULED FOR APRIL

We are pleased to inform you that the opening of the 2025 Call for Grants for “BUSINESS PROJECTS GENERATING EMPLOYMENT” and “SMALL INVESTMENT PROJECTS THAT GENERATE OR MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT” is scheduled for April. These grants promote the alternative development of JUST TRANSITION ZONES promoted by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and managed by the Institute for Just Transition, whose last call was in 2023.

This is a great opportunity to encourage investments focused on promoting the location of “business investment projects” and “small business investment projects” in areas affected by the closure of coal mines, coal-fired power plants, and nuclear power plants, as well as their surroundings, with the ultimate goal of generating alternative economic activities in these areas, with the consequent generation of new jobs and the maintenance of existing ones to encourage their development, considering their status as disadvantaged regions.

Below is a summary of the main characteristics of this program, pending confirmation once the call is published:

BENEFICIARIES

Private natural or legal persons with legal personality, as well as integrated groups formed by them, joint ownerships, and self-employed workers who are going to undertake employment-generating projects in the defined areas and/or who maintain employment.

ELIGIBLE ZONES: certain municipalities in areas affected by the closure of coal mines, coal-fired power plants, and nuclear power plants, as well as their surroundings in Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castile and Leon, Galicia, the Basque Country, and the Balearic Islands. The eligible municipalities are detailed in the annex.

PROJECT TYPES

Depending on the call in question:

• Business investment projects generating employment in eligible zones, belonging to all economic activities except those excluded*.
• Small business investment projects that generate or maintain employment in eligible zones, belonging to all economic activities except those excluded*.

*Excluded sectors: steel, coal, shipbuilding, synthetic fibers, transport, fisheries and aquaculture, primary agricultural production, export, tobacco, etc.). In the case of the services sector, all are excluded except industrial services to companies, nursing homes, activities related to rural tourism, leisure, the environment and free time, and services intended for the development of the information society, innovation, and new technologies.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS:

• Investment: ≥ €100,000 (at least 50% of the planned investment must be executed, always guaranteeing the minimum investment of €100,000).
• Job creation: ≥ 3 jobs, between the application date and the maximum date established by the resolution, and maintaining them for at least three years.

Exceptionally, companies with negative GDP growth for 2 consecutive quarters and with workforces ≥ 10 jobs may commit to maintaining exclusively the workforce existing at the date of the aid application, for a minimum period of 6 years.

• Execution period: 24 months from the final resolution.
• Requirement for execution and payment of at least 15% of the investment before the 9 calendar months following the date of receipt of the final resolution notification, and it must be accredited within the following 3 months. Non-compliance leads to the total revocation of the aid.
• At least 25% of the eligible costs will be financed with own resources or external financing exempt from public aid. This will be accredited at the time of the justification of the aid.

• The company must accredit a financial contribution, through own resources or through external financing representing at least 5% of the eligible investment. The accreditation of this requirement must be carried out at the time of the aid application.
• :

• • Only projects for an initial investment or for an initial investment in favor of a new economic activity in the area in question will be financed, depending on the area where the project is located.
  • In the case of a fundamental transformation in the production process: the eligible costs must exceed the depreciation of the assets relating to the activity to be modernized in the three previous fiscal years.
  • In the case of diversification of an existing establishment: the eligible costs must exceed at least 200% of the book value of the assets that are reused, recorded in the fiscal year prior to the start of the work.

SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS:

• Investment: ≥ €30,000 and ≤ 500,000 (at least 50% of the planned investment must be executed, always guaranteeing the minimum investment of €30,000).
• Job creation: maintenance of the employment level from the date of the aid application until at least three years following the maximum date for the completion of the investments established in the resolution. For newly created companies or those without employment, they must create at least 1 job.
• Execution period: 18 months from the final resolution.

BOTH TYPES OF PROJECTS:

• Incentive effect. Projects may not be started before the submission of the application.
• Compatible with other aid.

ELIGIBLE COSTS

• Acquisition of land necessary for the implementation of the project. It is necessary to provide an appraisal. The call establishes maximum limits.
• Service connections and utilities.
• Urbanization and exterior works. The call establishes maximum limits.
• Civil works (construction or rehabilitation of real estate). The call establishes maximum limits.
• Capital goods.
• Planning work, project engineering, and site management of the works. The call establishes maximum limits.
• Tangible fixed assets. The call establishes maximum limits.
• Intangible assets considered elements of the depreciable asset and exploited only in the establishment receiving the aid (digitization, digital innovation, the acquisition of software, the preparation or personalization of custom software applications, the acquisition of patents, operating licenses or patented technical knowledge, non-patented technical knowledge and other industrial or intellectual property rights, etc.) provided they are linked to production (excluding software license rental). They must appear in the company’s assets and remain in the establishment for at least 5 years, or 3 years if it is an SME.
  • Maximum 25% of the sum of land, civil works, and equipment.
  • In Business investment projects and in the case of large companies: they will be eligible up to a limit of 50% of the total eligible investment costs of the project for the initial investment.

In the case of Small business investment projects, investment in assets that are not first-use or first-acquisition is allowed, but it must be accredited that it is carried out at market prices, through the corresponding certification issued by an official appraiser. In the case of Business investment projects, this is only allowed for SMEs.

Company relocations will not be eligible, except if the investment in capital goods represents at least 40% of the total investment, and if there has been no relocation to the establishment where the investment for which the aid is requested will take place in the two years prior to the aid application.

TYPE AND INTENSITY OF SUPPORT

BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS:

Non-refundable grant according to company type and project location with the maximum limit marked on the regional aid map.

The maximum grant amounts by zone and company size are as follows:

(*) Only applicable in the eligible municipalities indicated in the annex.

The aid amount will consist of the amount corresponding to the increased investment component, where applicable, by the amount corresponding to the employment component, until reaching 100% of the applicable maximum intensity limit.

• Investment component → the maximum aid will be considered equivalent to half of the applicable maximum intensity limit according to the regional aid map in force.
• Employment component → will consist of bonuses per committed job.
  • €7,500 for each job created.
  • €15,000 for each job created of the following types:

1. Youth employment (≥ 18 years and ≤ 30 years).
2. Persons > 45 years old.
3. Female employment.
4. Persons with disabilities.
5. Persons registered in the Job Banks of the Institute for Just Transition, O.A.

A maximum amount of aid per project or company is set at 3,000,000 euros.

SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Non-refundable grant according to company type, without exceeding the maximum limit set for aid subject to de minimis (€200,000.00 during any period of three fiscal years).

The maximum grant amounts by zone and company size are as follows:

The aid amount will consist of the amount corresponding to the increased investment component, where applicable, by the amount corresponding to the employment component, until reaching 100% of the applicable maximum intensity limit.

• Investment component → the maximum aid will be considered equivalent to half of the percentages established by company size.
• Employment component → will consist of bonuses per committed job.
  • €15,000 for each job created.
  • €30,000 for each job created of the following types:

1. Youth employment (≥ 18 years and ≤ 30 years).
2. Persons > 45 years old.
3. Female employment.
4. Persons with disabilities.
5. Persons registered in the Job Banks of the Institute for Just Transition, O.A.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Currently closed. Opening expected in April.

26/03/2025