1.1. The Climate Innovation Voucher project is an instrument for the financial support of companies that develop and/or implement innovative climate technologies.

1.2. Innovative Vouchers are provided to Project participants on a competitive basis. The Selection Committee evaluates competitive projects and decides the winners of the competition (Beneficiaries) in accordance with the criteria for evaluating Competitive Projects of the Applicants as defined in these Rules.

1.3. Applicants can submit Competitive Projects to the Climate Innovation Voucher competition as part of the announced selection waves. The Project Manager evaluates projects and decides the winners in several stages, the dates of which are published on the official website of the Climate Innovation Vouchers project.

1.4. Competitive projects call for the mandatory participation of two parties - the Applicant and the Service Provider. The Service Provider implements a project commissioned by the Applicant who develops and/or implements climate technologies.

2.1. A legal entity that develops and/or implements innovative climate technologies can participate in the Climate Innovation Vouchers project. To join the project, Applicants and Service Providers should meet the requirements defined in this section of the Rules. If the Project Manager or representatives of the EBRD find that the Project participants fail to meet these requirements, cooperation with them may be terminated without the possibility to re-enter the Climate Innovation Vouchers project.

2.2. Companies participating in the Climate Innovation Vouchers project cannot simultaneously act as a Beneficiary and a Service Provider. Combining these roles is not allowed, even if the company is a Beneficiary and a Service Provider in various Competitive Projects.

2.3. General requirements for applicants

2.3.1. To participate in the Climate Innovation Vouchers project, Applicants should meet all the below requirements:
A legal entity registered on the territory of Ukraine at least 1 year prior to the submission of the competitive project
The share of private ownership in the authorized capital of a legal entity is 100% (the company is privately owned, is not a municipal or public company, is not registered as a CSO or as a sole proprietor).
A legal entity may be disqualified from participating in the Project if restrictive measures (sanctions) are applied to it and/or its ultimate beneficiaries/owners in Ukraine, the EU and the United States.
• A legal entity whose ultimate beneficiary/owner/manager is a citizen of Russia or Belarus cannot participate in the project.
A legal entity or its separate business units cannot be registered and nor operate in territories where the Ukrainian government authorities temporarily do not exercise their powers, or in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
• A legal entity should meet the following criteria:
o a company was not declared insolvent for the last 1 (one) year before the submission of the application form o shall not carry out activities that may pose a reputation risk to the EBRD and/or the project manager in accordance with the EBRD Enforcement Policy and Procedures
is not involved in the alcohol, tobacco, or gambling business
When submitting the application form, the legal entity must be ready to co-finance the project (payment for services under the project) in the amount of at least 25% of the grant funding that it would like to receive.

2.4. General requirements for Service Providers

2.4.1. Service Providers should meet the following requirements to qualify for the projects of Applicants and Beneficiaries:
be registered with public authorities as a business entity in Ukraine or another country, is not a municipal institution, is not registered as a civil society organization. Companies registered on the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus cannot act as Service Providers for applicant companies registered in Ukraine.
a service provider may be disqualified from the Climate Innovation Vouchers project if restrictive measures (sanctions) are applied to it and/or its ultimate beneficiaries/owners of the company in Ukraine, the EU and the United States.
• a service provider whose beneficiary / owner is a russian citizen cannot participate in the project.
has at least 2 years of experience of providing services in the relevant field • has all permits (licenses, certificates, etc.) required for the provision of relevant services
has references from at least 2 companies that were provided with services similar to those required for the implementation of the competitive project within the last 2 years prior to the date of submission of the competitive project
• the Service Provider or its separate business units cannot be registered and/or operate in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

2.4.2. The Project Manager will consider the following factors as positive when assessing the capacity of Service Providers to render the proposed services under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project:
• Service Provider is a member of international industry associations
• The Service Provider is a member of international industry associations
• the company holds certificates of international certification bodies or organizations
the company holds state certificates/licenses
• the Service Provider is experienced in providing services and delivering work under the projects of EBRD and other IFOs and donors.

2.4.3. To participate in the Climate Innovation Vouchers project, the Service Provider must fill out the registration form on the Project's official website.

2.4.4. After the Service Provider fills out the registration form, the Project Manager verifies the data provided. If the Service Provider meets the requirements, the Project Manager enters it in the list of registered Service Providers. The Service Provider will be notified via e-mail about the registration.

2.5. Independence of Service Providers and prevention of conflicts of interest

2.5.1. The Applicant/Beneficiary and the Service Provider that work under the same competitive project cannot be related. The Applicant/Beneficiary and the Service Provider are considered as related under the following conditions, but not limited to:
• any of the decision-making employees of the Applicant/Beneficiary, or their family members, owns a share in the Service Provider's company, and vice versa.
• any of the decision-making employees of the Applicant/Beneficiary is legally related with the Service Provider that stipulates the payment of remuneration in favor of such employee (e.g., a part-time employee, civil contract employee, or a consultant), and vice versa.
• any of the decision-making employees in the Applicant/Beneficiary company is a related person (family members, close acquaintances) to the decision-making employees in the Service Provider company, and vice versa.

2.5.2. If the Applicant/Beneficiary and the Service Provider are found to be related under the same Competitive Project, the Project Manager shall initiate the process of termination of any cooperation under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project. In this case, the EBRD will oblige the Beneficiary to return the funds received under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project in accordance with the terms of the grant agreement.

3.1. Submission of Competitive Projects

3.1.1. To participate in Innovative Voucher competition, the Applicant must describe their project for implementing innovative climate technology using the forms available on the climate.biz website. Competitive projects submitted by the Applicant in any other way (email, CDs, mail) will not be considered by the Project Manager

3.1.2. Filling out the templates shall not be understood as granting Innovation Voucher, but as the fact that a legal entity has received the status of an Applicant in the Innovation Voucher competition. The Project Manager confirms receipt of the Applicant's competitive project via email. The notification is sent to the email address provided by the Applicant in the Application form.

3.1.3. All data submitted via the forms is checked by representatives of the Project Manager, Selection Committee and the EBRD. The Project Manager reserves the right to clarify any information submitted by the Applicant.

3.1.4. Any false information provided by the Applicant is grounds for excluding the Applicant from the Innovation Voucher competition without the possibility of re-entering.

3.1.5. Any requests from Applicants and Service Providers to the Project Manager shall be accepted exclusively in writing and via the email address indicated on the official website of the Climate Innovation Vouchers project.

3.1.6. The selected Applicants shall be checked in accordance with the EBRD procedures. The EBRD reserves the right to refuse the Applicant to receive an Innovation Voucher even after the Project Manager checks it

3.1.7. The Applicant shall receive notifications about the competition results to the email address specified when filling out the forms

• design services
• industrial design for the product
• customize the product for a new type of customer or a new field/method of application
• development of algorithms

• hardware testing
• testing of installations
• use of precise testing tools

• national certification
• influential performance tests
• certification of international organizations

• patent search
• intellectual property expertise
• determining the best ways to protect IP
• national and international registration of patents, trademarks and trademarks for goods and services
• national and international protection of intellectual property rights

3.4.2. The EBRD provides funds to Beneficiaries in accordance with the respective contracts. The amount of funding in the contracts corresponds to the amount determined in the budget of the Beneficiary's Competitive project. The payments shall be made in euro.

3.5. Co-financing

3.5.1. As part of the Climate Innovation Vouchers project, Beneficiaries are required to cofinance their competitive projects. The monetary contribution (co-financing) of the Beneficiary of their competitive project must be at least 25% of the funding received under the Project. Co-financing shall be made exclusively in cash and cannot be replaced by barter, netting, clearing settlements, tolling raw materials, personnel participation, etc

3.5.2.Preliminary payments made before the grant agreement signing are not considered as co-financing.

Competitive projects are evaluated by the Expert Jury in accordance with the criteria and procedures defined in this section of the rules.

4.1 Evaluation criteria

4.1.1. The Expert Jury of the Climate Innovation Vouchers project evaluates Competitive Projects submitted by Applicants according to the following criteria:
• Potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To what extent can the proposed project reduce the CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases?
• Scalability and usability of the technology in other sectors. Can this technology/product be scaled? Can innovations related to this technology be used/implemented in other sectors/verticals/ industries?
• Level of innovation. To what extent will this technology/product push the boundaries of innovation? Is this a totally new product or just an adaptation/new version of an existing solution?
• Market potential. To what extent can this technology / product / project develop the climate innovation market? Can it increase the Beneficiary's market share or change the entire ecosystem of climate innovation in Ukraine?
• Realistic implementation of technology / product. How likely is the successful implementation of this technology / product / project?

5.1. During an in-depth analysis of applications, representatives of the Project Manager shall analyze additional documents and conduct interviews with representatives of Applicants.

5.2.that may be requested by the Project Manager from the Applicant for further in-depth analysis (the list is not exhaustive):
•additional project-related technical documents, an updated or more detailed budget if needed
• registration and statutory documents (e.g., the charter, an extract from the Unified Register of Enterprises and Organizations, certificate of state registration, etc)
• tax certificates and extracts from tax registers
• information about existing bank accounts
• balance sheet and income statement (financial statement) for the last 1 year
• written application for the Applicant's personnel and individuals performing work on the basis of civil contracts
• written certificates of the company's lawsuits over the past 1 year
•information about patents, licenses, and certificates - if any

5.3. 3.Applicants shall submit these documents within 3 business days, but not later than 7 (seven) calendar days (if the Applicant needs to generate new documents to fulfill the Project Manager's requests) from the date of the request unless otherwise provided. During the selection process, the Project Manager and the EBRD may request any other documents

5.4. Study visits

5.4.1. In order to assess the technological and innovative capabilities of the Applicant, get acquainted with its production facilities, prototypes or serial samples of climate technologies, verify the authenticity of the data provided in the project application, the Project Manager can make coordinated visits to the offices, production, testing facilities of Beneficiaries and/or Service Providers.

6.2.1. The funds under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project shall be paid to the Beneficiary on the basis of a Grant Agreement after the Beneficiary confirms the receipt of all services from the Service Provider under the contract, and certifies its own co-financing.

6.3. Taxation

6.3.1. Non-refundable targeted financial aid received by the Beneficiary under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project is provided in the form of a money transfer to the Beneficiary's foreign currency (euro) account.

6.3.2. The Climate Innovation Vouchers project is registered with the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine as international technical assistance that allows Beneficiaries registered in Ukraine to enjoy additional tax benefits for activities related to the direct implementation of the Competitive Project.

7.1. Personal data protection

7.1.1Applicants, as part of their participation in the Climate Innovation Vouchers project, shall transfer the personal data of their representatives or other persons – subjects of personal data to the EBRD and the Project Manager and agree to the Provisions on personal data protection. The Applicant guarantees that:
•it is the legal and lawful owner of the relevant personal data as understood by the Law of Ukraine On Personal Data Protection a hereinafter referred to as the Laws);
•it has received consent from the relevant personal data subjects to process and transfer their personal data to the other party;
• personal data shall be transferred in compliance with the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine in the field of personal data protection and the purpose of personal data processing

7.2. Protection of trade secrets

7.2.1. The applicant must notify the EBRD and the Project Manager in writing that any information furnished under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project is considered a trade secret.

7.2.2. Information about the name of the Applicant and Service Provider, general information about the project and Climate technology, the cost of an Innovation Voucher and services provided under the project, and so on cannot be regarded as a trade secret.

7.2.3. Information constituting a trade secret may be used by representatives of the EBRD and the Project Manager for the purposes of implementing the Climate Innovation Voucher project, however it cannot not be provided to any third parties, except for providing such information at the request of public authorities in accordance with the procedure established by law.

7.3. Responsibility of the Expert Jury

7.3.1. Members of the Expert Jury are required to notify the Project Manager in writing of a possible conflict of interest or connection with Applicants whose project applications have been submitted for consideration by the Expert Jury, or Service Providers specified in these project applications, no later than 1 day after such fact is established. A conflict of interest or relationship may be determined if a member of the Expert Jury:
• owns a share in the Applicant's or Service Provider's company
• for the last 5 years, has been in a legal relationship with the Applicant or Service Provider that envisage the payment of remuneration in its favor (e.g., a part-time employee, civil law contract employee, or a consultant)
• is a family member who is close to the decision-making employees in the Applicant's or Service Provider's company.

Applicant is a legal entity that applied for a Project to receive an innovative voucher for the development and/or implementation of climate technology

Project Auditor is an organization authorized by the EBRD to monitor and evaluate Beneficiaries' projects implemented under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project.

Beneficiary is an Applicant that was selected by the Expert Jury, was recommended by the Project Manager for grant financing and entered into a Grant Agreement with the EBRD

Grant Agreement is an agreement between the EBRD and the Beneficiary for the provision of nonrefundable targeted financial assistance to pay for Services under the Project.

EBRD - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Verification of project results - confirmation of project implementation by comparing the expected results in accordance with the primary documents of the Service Providers and the actual results of the services provided, checking the primary documentation regarding the provision of services within the framework of the project, involvement of the Project auditor with independent experts to confirm the completeness of the services received by the Beneficiary within the framework of the project.

Expert Jury is a group of experts that evaluates Applications in the framework of competitive projects. The Expert Jury is formed by the Project Manager and approved by the EBRD.

Innovations Voucher is non-refundable financial assistance provided by the EBRD to Beneficiaries for the development and/or implementation of climate innovations Application for the Climate Innovation Vouchers Project is a description of the project submitted by the Applicant using a Web form for evaluation by the Selection Committee and, if selected, further participation in the CIV project.

Climate-friendly technologies are processes, methods, equipment, techniques, practical knowledge or skills to perform certain activities that can be used to counteract and/or mitigate climate change or adapt to climate change. Climate-friendly technologies, in particular, contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions during production or operation, energy saving and increasing the use of renewable energy sources.

Trade Secret is the information that is secret in the sense that it in whole or in a certain form and entirety of its components is unknown and is not easily accessible to persons who usually deal with the type of information to which it belongs, therefore has commercial value and was the subject of measures adequate to existing circumstances to preserve its secrecy, taken by a person who legally controls this information.

Competitive Project is a task proposed by the applicant through the application form, for the implementation of which they require the qualification and expertise of the service provider for the development, improvement or implementation of climate technology.

Monitoring means tracking the progress of projects selected for the Climate Innovation Vouchers project in Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and Georgia. Monitoring includes collecting information on project implementation, including visits to the offices and production facilities of Beneficiaries and Service Providers to check and record the project implementation process. Monitoring is performed by representatives of the project manager or authorized persons upon notification of the relevant Beneficiaries and Service Providers.

Service Providers are legal entities and entrepreneurs (sole proprietors in Ukraine) who have the necessary competencies, personnel, equipment and capacity necessary to provide services to Beneficiaries within the framework of projects submitted by them for the Climate Innovation Vouchers project.

Climate-friendly technology developers are companies that develop and offer climate-friendly technologies/innovations as their own commercial product.

Project Manager is the organization that manages the Climate Innovation Vouchers project, in particular, conducts marketing, gives advices, delivers training programs for beneficiaries and provides a technology platform for grant management. The Project Manager is a consortium consisting of:
The project manager is a consortium consisting of:
Public Organization "Ukrainian Network of Energy Innovations "Greencubator" (http://greencubator.info), which administers the Project of Climate Innovation Vouchers in Ukraine.

Co-financing is the amount of own funds that the Beneficiary is required to pay to the Service Provider(s) for rendering services under the Climate Innovation Vouchers project

The Climate Innovation Vouchers Project website is a website on which the Project Manager publishes official Project documentation, current Rules, news and announcements related to the Project. The address of the Climate Innovation Vouchers Project website is https://climate.biz