22/05/2026 (Agence Europe) – On Friday 22 May, the European Commission decided to award €400 million to European projects aimed at decarbonising heat production. It has selected 65 projects to receive financial support under the first call for tenders for the Innovation Fund Heat Auction, according to a press release. This European funding comes from the Innovation Fund and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The selected projects will use a wide range of technologies to reduce industrial heat emissions and accelerate the market uptake of electrified heat solutions and heat produced directly from renewable sources (namely solar thermal and geothermal). Over the next five years, these projects will aim to produce a quantity of decarbonised heat in the EU equivalent to the replacement of more than 1.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas, or the annual consumption of 4 million European homes. (SP)