Efficiency unleashed: evolution and impact of Germany's funding scheme for energy and resource efficiency in the economy

The Federal Funding Scheme for Energy and Resource Effi ciency in the Economy (EEE) is the central public funding programme for addressing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in German companies. In 2023, it exceeded a funding volume of 1 billion euros for the first time. The multi-measure scheme consists of several modules. In its original setup, it covered support for investments 1) energy-efficient cross-cutting technologies, 2) process heat from renewable energies, 3) measurement and control equip ment, sensors and energy management software and 4) en ergy and later also resource optimizations of plants and pro cesses. Recently, two new modules have been added, focusing on 5) transformation concepts and 6) electrification in micro and small enterprises. On the one hand, the paper aims to
examine key performance indicators from the four evaluation rounds since 2019 in order to review the target achievement, effectiveness and economic efficiency of the EEE’s measures. Overall, the programme as a whole has achieved gross GHG emissions savings of a good 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 since its introduction until the end of 2022. On the other hand, the pa per illustrates the evolution of the EEE over the last five years in order to derive exemplary implications for the evaluation of (other) dynamic funding schemes. The results suggest, among other things, that it is important to distinguish major structural breaks, such as changes in funding directives during the year or new funding objects, at an early stage in order to prepare for them in an ongoing evaluation. Consequently, it is advisable for policy-makers to be aware that a redesign of a funding programme may also have substantial repercus sions on its evaluation.