Enabling financing and investments for a sustainable climate transformation

There is still time to respond to the impending crises resulting from climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Significant financial resources are needed to act and implement the sustainable climate transformation. Currently, however, global, national, regional, and local capital flows mainly through traditional channels created by the existing system.

Most parts of society are dependent in various ways on the financial sector, and similarly the financial sector is affected by most other sectors of society. Conditions for the climate transformation is linked to the financial sector in several ways, where competitiveness and profitability are vital for investments and financing in most companies. While there are new initiatives and efforts to make the financial sector a driving force in the climate transformation, a more fundamental shift in financing and investment at multiple levels may be needed to enable and drive a sustainable climate transformation.

A number of stakeholders have identified the need for changes to capital flows. In September 2024, the opening of the UN General Assembly emphasised the need to reform the international financial architecture so it fits current needs and realities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) writes in its synthesis report from 2023 that there is enough global capital to bridge the global investment gaps to achieve climate targets, but barriers remain to redirecting capital toward climate measures. These include both institutional and regulatory barriers and market entry barriers. Many stakeholders highlight the links between climate change, climate adaptation, and biodiversity and the advantages of addressing these jointly. Redistributing capital to promote biodiversity is crucial for a sustainable climate transformation.

The EU and others have developed various regulations linked to the financial sector, focusing mainly on reporting and transparency requirements. Methods are being developed and data are generated to support this. Meanwhile, accessible reliable and prioritised data that accelerate the transformation are needed while also seeing the bigger picture and acting to achieve real world impacts. This could involve prioritising resources to produce specific data or focusing on certain regions with significant biodiversity issues or on specific actors that contribute excessively to climate impacts. Access to different perspectives on risk, risk assessment, and risk management are important. This includes systemic risks.

The purpose of the call is to enable and promote financing and investments in a sustainable climate transformation by generating, expanding, and implementing new knowledge in collaboration with relevant societal actors and using a holistic approach.

Existing and future financial flows and investment patterns need to promote and accelerate the sustainable climate transformation. This may require changes to policies, regulations, the behaviour of market participants, and other aspects. Legislation, norms, risk assessment, burden and responsibility sharing, and market conditions may also need to change. This will require addressing several questions in parallel and at multiple levels simultaneously (local, regional, national, and global). Changes may need to be coordinated within and between different sectors of society, and developed and implemented in the Global North and Global South.

Projects can focus on a specific sector of importance for the climate transformation, but they can also have a broader approach and focus on such issues as institutional frameworks, business models, or policy instruments. Projects should take a holistic approach, which could mean considering entire or several different value chains to address crucial issues and possible synergies and co-benefits. Projects can traverse both geographical and sectoral boundaries. Consistency between parallel policy and decision-making processes in both the public and private sectors and at multiple levels can be addressed in projects, including how to remove bottlenecks and other barriers and to manage conflicting objectives at local, regional, national, and global levels.

Over time, the portfolio of funded projects is expected to help develop and support policy and decision-making at multiple levels, thereby promoting the allocation of capital for a sustainable climate transformation while preventing capital flows that counteract the transformation. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change, and preserving and increasing biodiversity are key elements of a sustainable climate transformation. These issues should be addressed as a group to avoid solutions that create new, or exacerbate existing, sustainability problems. Other factors, such as social and cultural values, can also be considered in this comprehensive perspective.

The results from the projects are expected to enable changes that can facilitate financing and investments for a sustainable climate transformation. As a whole, the call can facilitate reassessing definitions and practices linked to risk assessment and division of responsibilities. It can also facilitate making prioritised and reliable data accessible, which enables more actors to develop relevant strategies, measures, and reporting. Project portfolio results provide experience and analysis relevant for developing new business models and transformation plans and financial instruments to support these.

Projects should incorporate the views of societal actors on what is needed to promote investments for a sustainable climate transformation and actively work to implement and make knowledge and results come into use both during and after the project. Knowledge and practices developed in projects should be the result of collaboration between researchers (within different disciplines) and societal actors. Communication initiatives and efforts to ensure real-world impact from the project are to be clearly described in the application.

Parties outside of academia can access project funding in this call.

We anticipate that projects will need to include researchers from different disciplines to encompass and integrate multiple perspectives. Collaboration is also to involve parties outside of academia. Projects do not need to be limited to Swedish conditions or Swedish stakeholders.

Applicants are encouraged to plan their project to reduce its climate footprint. More information is available under “Environmental considerations when planning your project”.

Projects that are solely aimed at the development of technologies or materials will not be funded. Research projects that are deemed to be outside the call’s purpose and focus cannot be awarded funding and will be rejected before being reviewed. Determining whether an application falls within the scope of the call is based on the complete application. This means that these types of determinations are only made once the call is closed.

The call is aimed at researching institutions (higher education institutions or research institutes), companies (not sole proprietorships), public organisations at various levels (municipalities, regions, and authorities) and other organisations.

The main applicant is to be a Swedish higher education institution or research institute. The application is to include at least two project parties: at least one from a higher education institution or research institute and at least one from outside of academia. In this call, organisations outside of academia can also apply for grants from Formas.

International collaboration:

With regard to international collaboration, only foreign higher education institutions or state research institutes can take part of Formas' funding in this call. Companies, civil society or other non-academic actors from a country other than Sweden, which do not have a Swedish organisation number, cannot take part of funding. They may participate in-kind, where applicable. Foreign organisations who have a share of the project budget (also in-kind) and will actively participate in the project can be part of the application as a project party. The research is to be initiated and led from Sweden. The administrating organisation is to be in Sweden and approved by Formas. It is responsible for hiring any necessary foreign staff and reimbursing costs for activities or services outside Sweden, as per the administrating organisation’s guidelines. Foreign participation is to be well defined and carefully explained in the project application.

Exceptions – research collaboration with Russia and Belarus:

Due to the war in Ukraine, funds will not be awarded for projects involving research cooperation with state or federal research institutions in Russia and Belarus.

Private companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that want to apply for a grant from Formas are subject to State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity External link..

The main applicant organisation must be able to receive and administer the funds paid by Formas to an awarded project. The organisation that receives and administers the funds paid by Formas to awarded applications is called the administrating organisation. In this call, we welcome higher education institutions and research institutes as administrating organisations. Other organisations are welcome to apply in the call as project parties.

Private companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that want to apply for a grant from Formas are subject to State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity.

Note that sole proprietorships cannot be awarded a grant under this call or participate as a party in projects applying for grants in Formas calls.

Companies or other non-academic actors that do not have a Swedish organisation number may not receive funding in this call, but in some cases they may participate in kind.

All projects applying for funding from Formas must have a responsible project manager and be conducted by the individuals listed in the application. The project manager is to be linked to the main applicant (coordinating) party, which is the administrating organisation, and is to have a PhD by the close of the call.

Project constellation and project parties

There are to be at least two (2) project parties, including the main applicant organisation, which is called the coordinating party and is the administrating organisation. The project team is to include at least one organisation conducting research (higher education institution or research institute) and at least one other type of organisation. Other types of organisations could be actors in the financial sector (e.g. banks, insurance companies, asset managers, development banks), municipalities and regional authorities, public agencies, companies, or civil society organisations.

When applying for project funding, you can apply for both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs, also called operating costs, are costs that would not have arisen if the project had not been conducted: staff expenses, costs for equipment, buildings and land, costs for consultants and licenses, and other direct costs. Indirect costs are costs that are not the immediate result of the project but that are still related to it, such as for administration, IT. Indirect costs are also called overhead costs or general expenses. The grant must be clearly linked to the project you wish to fund and must be used to fund activities that are not part of regular activities.

More information about costs eligible for funding by Formas:

• Project costs that qualify for funding
• Costs funded by Formas with supporting provisions (PDF) , 234.8 kB. (Swedish)

Our grants are covered by state aid rules. These rules govern both what kind of costs and what proportion of these costs we can fund. This is determined individually for each organisation. This is why we distinguish between the maximum size of a grant the project can receive and how much each participating project party can receive.

The grant amount that each participating project party can receive depends primarily on:

• The activities, organisation, and size of the party
• The activities conducted by the party in the project.

Rules for organisations conducting non-economic activities

Organisations that conduct non-economic activities may apply for funds in the call and receive full cost coverage in the project. Public organisations, such as higher education institutions, municipalities, regional authorities, and public agencies, are usually considered as organisations that conduct non-economic activities.

Rules for organisations conducting some economic activities

A project party conducting both economic and non-economic activities and that intends to apply for a grant from Formas must keep the different activities clearly separate through separate reporting. It is crucial to keep costs and funding of the different activities separate and that the recipient project party does not use results from activities conducted within the framework of Formas-funded non-economic activities in its economic activities. Thus, for Formas to be able to grant this project party support in the form of financing within the framework of its non-economic activities, the applicant project party must certify that its non-economic activities are kept clearly separate from any economic activities and that the project for which funding is sought will to be conducted within its non-economic part of the organisation.

For applicants conducting both economic and non-economic activities, for example research institutes, municipal companies, and civil society organisations, and who in the call intend to participate through their non-economic part of the activity, Formas requires a statement of separate accounting or ancillary activities. As part of its administration, if judged necessary, Formas may also request a statement of separate accounting or ancillary activities for projects.

The Statement of separate accounting or ancillary economical activities , 57.8 kB. (Swedish), certifying one of the criteria below, is signed by the organisation’s authorised representative and attached to the application.

The statement is to certify that:

• A relevant project party differentiates between costs, financing, and income from such activities that are of an economic or non-economic nature. The project party does this so that cross-subsidisation of economic activities cannot occur. Grants received in the project will only go to the non-economical part of your organisation.

or

• An organisation is a research organisation, with the main mission of conducting independent research. The economic part of the organisation is ancillary to the non-economic part. This means that the economic part constitutes a maximum of 20 per cent of the annual capacity for your organisation’s research activities.

State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity

State aid rules apply when Formas provides grants to companies and others exclusively engaged in economic activity. The rules are intended to protect competition in the EU’s internal market.

In this call, Formas will primarily apply Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) (EU Regulation No. 651/2014). In this call, Formas assesses that projects will fall within the category “Industrial research”. When the support is based on GBER, the aid intensity depends on the type of project and the size of the organisation.

In this call, companies and other organisations that conduct economic activities can apply for and receive grants corresponding to a maximum of 50% of their eligible costs, regardless of the size of the organisation.

Each project party is responsible for ensuring that the received funding does not exceed aid intensity allowed by this call.

Applicants for state aid should be aware that a condition for granting Formas funding is that the grant recipient consents to public notification of the aid, known as transparency reporting. This applies for each decision of state aid over EUR 100,000 to a project party (or EUR 10,000 if it concerns primary agricultural production or the fisheries and aquaculture sector). Public notification of aid above these amount limits must be given within the EU. As the aid provider, Formas is responsible for this transparency report. The person submitting an application consents to public notification to allow adherence to the requirements for transparency reporting aid decisions above the applicable amount limits.

Before making a decision, Formas performs credit checks on companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities that may be eligible for funding.

You can read more about the state aid rules that apply to Formas grants at:

• State aid rules
• Aid intensity according to Formas’ aid scheme , 297 kB. (Swedish)

De minimis aid

In the call, Formas can also apply Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2023/2831 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid, also known as lesser aid or aid of minor importance External link.. Total de minimis aid to a company may not exceed a maximum limit of €300,000 for a period of three years. When calculating the cap, all support of minor importance that the company has received from various public aid providers (state, region or municipality) during the three-year period must be totalled. If a company is part of a group, the €300,000 (approximately SEK 3 million) cap applies to the entire group. Any entity that, regardless of its legal form, conducts economic activities with or without profit, such as economic associations, non-profit associations, foundations, and limited liability companies, is counted as a company. The amount refers to the gross amount, that is, before deductions for tax or other charges. The aid may have been granted in the form of a cash sum or in another form. Aid in other forms is calculated using a gross grant equivalent, for example aid in the form of loans, must be calculated on the basis of the market interest rates that applied when the loan was granted. If the aid cap of €300,000 is exceeded, repayment of the aid will be required. Read more about aid intensities in Aid intensities and definitions for grants under Formas’ aid scheme, 297 KB , 297 kB. (Swedish).

For project parties exclusively engaged in economic activities and that intend to apply for a Formas grant with de minimis aid, a statement of de minimis aid must be attached to the application by filling in the template for the statement and signed by an authorised representative of the organisation. Formas’ statement of de minimis aid External link. The document is then scanned and uploaded as a PDF in Prisma. Formas may also request a statement of de minimis aid for projects where this is relevant.

How do you determine if an organisation is engaged in economic activity?

One of the mandatory criteria for a measure to count as state aid is that the recipient of the aid is a “company”, as defined by the company criterion External link.. The legal state aid definition of a company is that it is an entity that conducts economic activity regardless of its legal status and regardless of how the activity is financed – that is, whether it is public or private, or whether it has a profit motive. An economic activity is any activity consisting of offering some form of goods and services on a market and any awarded aid is considered state aid.

You should write your application in English, since an international review panel will assess it. If you do write your application in Swedish, a professional translator will only translate into English the section describing the project work itself. You will not be able to review or change the translation before the application proceeds to assessment in the review panel. However, the popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the abstract is to be in both Swedish and English. Your budget specification and CV will not be translated.

According to Swedish law, your application and its appendices are considered general public documents once they have been submitted to us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Information can only be concealed if it is confidential as defined in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).

Formas is limited in its ability to designate personal data as confidential. For this reason, your application should not contain the personal data of anyone who is not included in the application.

If the project is awarded funding, the popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. For this reason, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.

We currently see no problems if you use AI as an aid when formulating your application. However, it is important that you are aware that the responsibility for fulfilling the commitments you make in the application lies with you as the applicant. As the applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that the content of both the application and the project plan is correct and that the research is carried out as described. You certify this when registering your application. As the applicant, you are to follow good research practices, which means that plagiarism, falsification, and fabrication of content in the applicant may not occur.

Grant applications are filled in and submitted in our application system, Prisma. Enter the necessary information for your application there.

Personal account

The main applicant who fills in the necessary information and registers the application must have a personal account in Prisma.

Apply for a personal account in Prisma External link.

Organisation account

The organisation that will receive and administer the funds Formas awards to a project is called an administrating organisation in Prisma, the Formas application system. The organisation must have an organisation account at the time of application.

Formas draws a distinction between administrating organisations that can receive funding in all Formas calls and administrating organisations that can be approved to receive funding for an individual project.

Higher education institutions and most research institutes are approved as administrating organisations for all Formas calls and already have organisation accounts. Participating organisations, known as project parties, do not need to have an organisation account in Prisma for this call.

Initially, Formas verifies that the application meets the procedural requirements set out in the call. If the application does not meet these requirements, it is rejected.

For this call, the following requirements will be checked:

• The administrating organisation has signed the application. This must be done within seven calendar days after the call closes.
• The application has been approved by the administrating organisation.
• The focus of the application is within Formas’ areas of responsibility.
• The focus of the application falls within the call’s areas.
• The application complies with the framework of the call regarding budget, project time, type of project parties, number of project parties, etc.
• The application is complete and contains all required information.
• Multiple applications with the same content have not been submitted.
• A main applicant responsible for other projects or activities funded by Formas has submitted all requested reports by the stated deadlines.

All applications are assessed by an external review panel and only based on what is described in the application. This means it is important for the application to include all relevant information and for the content to be as clear as possible. The review panel consists of active researchers and users of research results, i.e. individuals who are experts and who work in the public or private sector. Each application is reviewed by multiple reviewers.

In this call, Formas may apply a portfolio perspective to enable, in the call as a whole, funding of projects that address a wide range of sectors, challenges, and perspectives. The portfolio perspective can only be applied by the review panel after each application has been assessed on its own merits.

Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:

The applications are assessed based on the following criteria on a scale of 1–7, where 1 is the lowest and 7 is the highest. All assessment criteria are to be addressed in the application, and applicants must clearly relate the application to these criteria. All criteria are equally important.

Relevance

• The project can significantly contribute to the purpose and focus of the call, which is both explained in the text and clarified in the presented impact logic.
• The design of the project gives relevant consideration to the challenges, needs, and circumstances of different groups.

Potential

• The project’s expected results have significant scientific value.

• The interdisciplinary approach is based on a relevant combination of disciplines and research fields.
• The project has significant potential to have a concrete impact with bearing on the purpose of the call.
• The project has significant potential for scalability and dissemination.

Implementation

• Planned activities and methods are appropriate.
• The schedule and budget are realistic and appropriate.
• The plan for ensuring the project’s results have real-world impact is well described and appropriate, and there is a reasonable budget post for this.
• Ethical considerations are well described, and the plan for how to manage these is appropriate.

Actors

• The project’s organisation and overall competence of the project team are clearly explained and appropriate, including real-world impact of the project’s results.
• The project is conducted in collaboration with relevant societal actors, and participation by actors outside of academia is well explained and appropriate.

Our reviewers may currently not use AI tools as support in assessing applications. The are several reasons for this. There is a great risk that information uploaded could be disseminated. There is also a risk related to confidentiality and the processing of personal data. Uploading an application or information from an application to any form of AI tool constitutes the unauthorised sharing of information. This applies not just to AI tools but also to other services and tools for storing and sharing data.

Formas expects to decide which projects are awarded grants on 21 October 2025. We publish our decisions the following day at the latest on the Formas website, and you will receive an email informing you that the decision is available in Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.

All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas containing financial and project results within three months of the end of the grant grace period. For projects longer than 18 months, a financial statement must also be submitted to Formas annually. All reports are submitted in Prisma.

Financial reporting in Prisma , 187 kB. (Swedish)

A progress report is to be submitted in Prisma after 36 months. Formas may have requirements for how to report projects regarding content and results to facilitate dissemination and real-world impact. In such cases, the award decision (with associated terms and conditions) will include more information about this. Formas may also require you to participate in meetings, conferences, and similar events to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.

Terms and Conditions for Grants – Formas

Results of research funded by Formas must be published using open access.

You must also have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive Formas funding, you are to draw up a data management plan. The plan should not be sent into us, but you should be able to present the plan upon request. By signing our grant terms and conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before the research begins and that it will be maintained.

Open access to research results and data External link.