Towards sustainability: benefit from subsidies and schemes

Making your business more sustainable can be quite an expense. Especially if you make more than one part of your business more sustainable. So find out about government subsidies and benefits. This can make a big difference in the costs. Also pay attention to whether you can combine subsidies with each other. This will give you an extra advantage. You will find more information on the details page for each subsidy at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO. If you cannot work it out yourself, contact your accountant or call the KVK Advice Team.

• Sustainable business premises
• Sustainable transport
• Sustainable production
• Tax schemes for sustainability investments
• Sustainable financing

Sustainable business premises

Many businesses must make their premises more sustainable by law. Think of entrepreneurs with offices that have to have energy label C. Sometimes this requires major investments, such as installing HR++ glass. 

Generate sustainable energy

Would you like to generate your own green energy? Or heat your building sustainably? Then you can use the Sustainable Energy Investment Subsidy (ISDE). You are entitled to the ISDE if you invest in a heat pump, a solar boiler or wind turbines. How much subsidy you get depends on the product you buy.

Sustainable transport

Sustainable transport is becoming increasingly important. From 2030, you will no longer be allowed to buy new petrol or diesel cars. From 2050 the Netherlands wants to be completely CO2 neutral and only sustainable vehicles will be allowed on the road.

Pay no road tax

In 2025, you will pay 75% less motor vehicle tax (mrb) for your electric or hydrogen car. From 2026, you will have to pay the full amount even with your sustainable car.

Get a discount on additional taxable benefit

In the coming years, you will get a discount if you use your sustainable company car privately. In 2024, you will pay 17% additional taxable benefit for electric, hydrogen or solar-powered cars. The reduced addition applies up to a list value of €30,000. Above that, you will pay the standard additional tax rate of 22%.

Buy or lease a company bicycle

If everyone in the world would use a bike as often as the Dutch, it would save up to 700 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. That amounts to 20% of the total emissions from private cars in the world. And thanks to a number of schemes, the bicycle can also earn you some savings.

Making your staff's travel more sustainable

You can make your employees' travel behaviour more sustainable in several ways. For example by making the workplace more accessible from a train or bus station. This is where the subsidy scheme Collectieven mkb Verduurzaming reisgedrag (Collective Travel Sustainability Subsidy Scheme, COVER, in Dutch) can help. The grant is for projects and activities that reduce CO2 emissions from commuter and business travel. The scheme is intended for entrepreneurial, industry, or business park associations. So you cannot apply for the COVER on your own. With the grant, you will receive up to 75% of the cost of your project or activity up to a maximum of €100,000. This scheme ends on 1 October 2025.

Sustainable production

To make your business, product or service more sustainable, you will have to look again at things like your processes, techniques and raw materials.

Repair, reuse and recycle

The Netherlands wants to have a circular economy by 2050. That means we will no longer have any waste and will continue to reuse raw materials. Do you want to reuse, repair or recycle products or materials in your company? Then you can apply for the Circular Implementation and Scaling Up (CIO) subsidy. The subsidy allows you to invest in new techniques and processes to make your company circular.

Tax schemes for sustainability investments

Green investments are more attractive thanks to tax breaks. Thanks to these schemes, you pay less tax.

Invest in sustainable assets

Invest with tax benefits in greener premises, products or transport. Think, for example, of a car that emits less CO2 or an energy-efficient cooling installation. Thanks to the Energy Investment Allowance (EIA), you can deduct part of your sustainable investments from your taxable profit. You will then pay less tax. This only applies to investments on the RVO Energy List (in Dutch).

Write off sustainable investments favourably

Write off environmentally-friendly business investments at a convenient time for you. The Random Depreciation of Environmental Investments (Vamil) allows you to depreciate an arbitrary percentage in any year. In other words, the Vamil offers you the flexibility to choose when you write off which part of your investment. You may opt to write off the entire amount in the first year, or spread it across several years. This way, you pay less tax. The asset you depreciate must be on the Environmental list.

Deduct investment costs from taxable profit

Do you want to buy environmentally friendly business assets with a tax advantage? Make use of the Environmental Investment Allowance (MIA). This scheme allows you to deduct up to 45% of your investment costs from your taxable profit. As a result, you pay less tax. Combine MIA and Vamil for extra benefit.

An example: you buy an electric freight bicycle for your in-town deliveries. It costs €5,000 euros. In the Environmental list, you read that you can deduct 36% of the investment from your profit if you use the MIA. And that the Vamil allows you to deduct 75%. You decide to use the Vamil for one year. This is how you calculate your tax benefit:

1. MIA deduction: 36% of €5,000 is €1,800
2. Vamil deduction: 75% of €5,000 is €3,750

Combined, your total deduction amounts to €5,550 (€1,800 + €3,750).

If your profit before tax was €50,000, your new taxable profit will be €50,000 - €5,550 = €44,450. You do not have to pay tax over the €5,550  deduction for your freight bike.

Sustainable technologies

Innovation is often expensive so there are subsidies for innovative sustainability projects.

New technologies for lower CO2 emissions

Are you working on an innovation that reduces CO2 emissions? Then you may be able to make use of the European Innovation Fund. This fund is for SME's that are ready to market their sustainable product or project. The Innovation Fund is also available for battery cells for electric vehicles. You can apply for the subsidy alone or together with a partner. The subsidy is intended for projects with large investment costs or operating costs. You can apply for it until 24 April 2025.

Sustainable financing

Do you have a good plan for an environmentally friendly project and are looking for investors? Make use of schemes especially for sustainable and circular projects.

Pay less interest

Are you working on an eco-friendly project, for example in the field of recycling or raw material savings? Have your investor apply for a green declaration. With such a green declaration, you pay a lower interest amount to your investor than with a normal loan.

Government guarantees

If you borrow money to make your business more sustainable, the government acts as guarantor. Thanks to this BMKB Groen scheme (SME-credit scheme Green), the risk for your financier is lower. This makes it easier to get a loan.