Companies considering capturing their CO₂ and storing it using the Aramis infrastructure may be eligible for funding through the SDE++ subsidy scheme, which includes a facility for CCS projects. The results of the 2024 application round were published on 6 June 2025, offering insight into recent funding decisions. The 2025 application round opens on 7 October, with an available budget of €8 billion.

What is SDE++?
The SDE++ (Incentive for Sustainable Energy Production and Climate Transition) is a subsidy programme run by the Dutch government. Achieving the climate targets for 2030 and 2050 will require major investments in renewable energy and CO₂reduction across both the public and private sectors. The scheme is designed to support companies and non-profit organisations in developing renewable energy projects and reducing carbon emissions.

How does SDE++ work?
The SDE++ scheme supports technologies that produce renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions by covering costs that cannot be recovered through the market. This makes adopting such technologies more financially feasible and contributes to achieving national climate targets. As a competitive funding mechanism, SDE++ prioritises projects that deliver the highest emission reductions at the lowest cost per tonne of CO_2.

The scheme covers five main technology categories: renewable electricity, renewable heat, renewable gas, low-carbon heat and low-carbon production. Alongside carbon capture and storage (CCS), this last category also includes projects for carbon capture and utilisation (CCU), advanced renewable fuels and hydrogen production via electrolysis.

SDE++ for carbon capture, transport and storage
In addition to the cost of capturing their CO₂, users of the Aramis infrastructure—emitters supplying the captured CO₂—pay a fee for its transport and storage. Under the SDE++ scheme, a portion of these expenses is reimbursed for a maximum period of 15 years. The compensation covers all costs incurred, adjusted for what a company would otherwise pay for CO₂ emissions under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

The current EU ETS price for emitting a tonne of CO₂ is €70. As this price is expected to rise, the SDE++ subsidy will decrease over time. The SDE++ scheme provides companies with the financial certainty needed to invest in CCS projects and achieve their emission reduction targets.

2024 results and changes to next application round
On 12 June, the results of the 2024 SDE++ application round were published. Of the €11.5 billion available, applicants submitted claims totalling €10.5 billion. A total of 640 projects have been approved, accounting for €7 billion in awarded funding.

Within the CCS/CCU domain, 23 applications have been awarded. For CCS, eight permits were granted, with budget claims totalling €1,039 million and a combined CO₂ reduction of 0.24 Mtpa (million tonnes per annum). The final results of the 2024 SDE++ application round can be found at www.rvo.nl/nieuws/resultaten-sde-2024.

Minister for Climate Policy and Green Growth Sophie Hermans informed Parliament that, from the next round onward, the SDE++ scheme will also support CO₂ storage outside the Netherlands. Until now, funding was limited to transport and storage on the Dutch Continental Shelf, but the scheme has since been extended to include storage in other EU countries and Norway.

This announcement follows a decision by the European Commission: while CO₂ captured in the Netherlands counts towards Dutch climate targets, Dutch CCS projects must compete internationally. Limiting the subsidy scheme to the Netherlands would restrict the free movement of goods and services within the European Economic Area. Funding for CO₂ storage abroad is only available to companies that reduce emissions within the Netherlands; the reductions are not attributed to the country where the CO₂ is stored.

SDE++ 2025 application round open on 7 October
The 2025 application round opens on 7 October at 9.00 am and closes on 6 November at 5.00 pm. A total budget of €8 billion is available across the scheme’s five main technology categories. Funding is awarded for a period of 12 or 15 years, depending on the technology. Only companies based in the Netherlands are eligible for the scheme. Companies able to demonstrate that the development costs of a project with a previously awarded SDE++ subsidy have increased by more than 25% will be allowed to re-apply in this round.

Find out how Aramis can support an SDE++ application at www.aramis-ccs.com/customers. The first results are expected no earlier than the start of 2026.