Green innovation loan

• Norwegian companies throughout the country, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Companies with the ambition and ability to deliver facilities, technologies, goods and services to international markets.

To qualify for a Green innovation loan, your project must have quantified environmental impacts and meet the environmental objectives of the EU taxonomy. In your application, you must describe and quantify the extent to which your project makes a substantial contribution to these objectives. This applies to both direct and indirect positive environmental impacts. Read more about tools for describing and quantifying environmental impacts here.

Green innovation loan with an EIF guarantee:

The green innovation loan is part of our agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF), which aims to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. This partnership enables us to offer larger loans on better terms to businesses that meet the criteria for an EIF guarantee.

Green innovation loans backed by an EIF guarantee are available to SMEs and companies defined as small mid-caps (i.e. companies with fewer than 500 full-time equivalent employees). Green innovation loans backed by an EIF guarantee cannot be granted to larger companies.

To qualify for a Green Innovation Loan with an EIF guarantee, your project must meet at least one of the EIF sustainability criteria, as well as our standard criteria.

The loan can be used to finance the commercialisation and wider adoption of innovative climate and environmental technology, including investments in production equipment or capital strengthening for organisational and market development. The loan can also be used across various industries to invest in more environmentally friendly production technology or circular production processes.

In short, either the products supplied or the production process itself must help reduce the climate or environmental footprint.

Green innovation loan with an EIF guarantee:

To qualify for a green innovation loan with an EIF guarantee, your company must either meet the relevant criteria for being defined as ‘sustainable’, or your project must meet at least one of the EIF’s criteria for sustainable investments.

Set up production

Green innovation loans can fund investments in tangible and intangible assets to establish the production of climate and environmental solutions. The loan enables your company to build production facilities for new systems, solutions, products and services that deliver a significant environmental impact when launched in the market. This may include the production of technology for renewable energy generation, energy systems and energy efficiency, solutions for climate-friendly transport, or products and business models that address other environmental objectives in the EU taxonomy.

Transform existing production

Green growth loans can also finance investments in machinery, equipment and intangible assets that enable your company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own production. This may include transitioning to circular production processes and implementing energy efficiency measures.

Regardless of how the loan will be used, your company must provide figures demonstrating the project's environmental impact. The impact may be direct or indirect, but you must explain the assumptions and compare the project with the best available alternative. Priority will be given to projects that support the environmental objectives of the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities.

Green growth loans can finance up to 75% of an investment, capped at NOK 35 million. We offer flexible loan disbursement tailored to the investment being financed.

If the loan qualifies for an EIF guarantee, the amount may be doubled. The EIF has a limit of EUR 2 million per loan transaction. We can address this by granting several EIF-guaranteed loans, provided your company presents separate and independent cost bases for each loan. Alternatively, we can offer a combination of loans with and without an EIF guarantee.

The loan must be secured by collateral. We assess collateral requirements on a case-by-case basis, based on our assessment of the risks associated with the company and the project. The requirement for adequate collateral (collateral that will cover the loan in the event of forced realisation) is normally 25–75% of the loan amount.

Where the loan qualifies for an EIF guarantee, the collateral requirement is reduced.

• The nominal interest rate without an EIF guarantee is 7.90% (for new loans from 29 September 2026 and existing loans from 7 December 2026)
• The nominal interest rate with an EIF guarantee is capped at 7.65% (for new loans from 29 September 2026 and existing loans from 7 December 2026)
• No setup fee
• Repayment period: Tailored to the project, but normally up to 15 years for buildings and up to 10 years for machinery and equipment. Loans for capital-inten
• Repayment profile: Loans may be granted with an interest-free period of up to two years and a repayment-free period of up to three years*. The repayment-free period is included in the loan term.

*An interest-free period is subject to this being within the maximum permitted subsidy effect under the State aid rules.

• The core technology for the solution, product or process has been fully tested and is ready for industrialisation. You can apply for funding to develop new technology through the Environmental Technology Scheme.
• There is a clear description of the business concept, particularly its potential for growth and value creation, together with an associated risk assessment.
• The company has a team of key people with strong, relevant expertise who can take the company forward in line with the plans presented.
• The applicant has secured one or more long-term owners with strong financial capacity (cornerstone investors).

We have entered into an agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to strengthen financing for small and medium-sized enterprises. This partnership enables us to offer larger loans on better terms to businesses that meet the criteria for an EIF guarantee.

One of the financial guarantee products requires either the company itself or the investment covered by the project to be defined as ‘sustainable’.

Requirements for a sustainable business

To qualify, you must have achieved at least one of the following:

• Funding or a Seal of Excellence from the EIC Green Deal within the past three years. Funding from Norwegian 'green' schemes is not sufficient. The exception is if your company has received funding from the Environmental Technology Scheme within the past three years.
• IPR related to clean tech within the past three years. The loan must be used to commercialise the technology.
• The company has received the EU Ecolabel. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is not sufficient.
• At least 90% of the company's revenue comes from activities listed under 'Investments' in the EIF tool, or from professional or technical services that enable the activities listed in the tool.
• The company holds valid ISO 50001, ISO 50004 or EMAS environmental certification at the time of application.

Feel free to use our tool to assess whether a loan may qualify for an EIF sustainability guarantee.

Requirements for environmental investments

The following investments may be eligible for the loan:

General examples are described in the sub-sections. For a complete list of all eligible investments, please check the EIF tool.

• Investments in renewable energy, energy systems or related solutions
  • Examples: Solar energy, energy storage solutions, the production of components or equipment for renewable energy, the production of energy-efficient equipment, zero-emission vessels or ICT solutions for energy efficiency.
• Investments in services, infrastructure and equipment for energy efficiency
  • Example: Services to improve energy efficiency, and infrastructure for zero- and low-emission transport, such as EV chargers or hydrogen refuelling stations.
• Investments in climate adaptation and resilience to climate change
  • Example: Measures to reduce climate vulnerabilities in agriculture, such as flood-tolerant crops, flood control infrastructure or digital weather forecasting solutions.
• Investments related to the transition to a circular economy, waste reduction and recycling
  • Examples: Projects to reduce the use of primary raw materials or increase the use of secondary materials, business models based on repair or sharing, investments that enable recycling or reuse, or ICT solutions that facilitate circular business models.
• Investments to reduce pollution and waste of water resources
  • Examples: Investments in drainage systems, water-saving technology, ICT solutions for smart water management, and investments in or production of equipment or technology that reduces air or noise pollution.
• Investments to promote biodiversity and nature-based ecosystems
  • Examples: Green roofs, advisory services and ICT solutions that provide information and data to promote biodiversity.

For many of the subcategories, the EIF tool provides dedicated calculators for quantifying various criteria, such as those related to energy production or energy efficiency. The relevant categories are marked with a calculator icon in the top right-hand corner of the EIF tool.

When you apply, you must provide documentation for the investment. This may include an external assessment or certification, a self-declaration from your company, a detailed description of the investment project, technical documentation relating to the project, and a cost breakdown for the planned investment.

The specific type of documentation required will vary depending on the investment category. You should identify the requirements using our EIF tool. For all investments, the necessary documentation must be in place before we approve the loan application and disburse the funds.