News item | 04-11-2022 | 15:20
The cabinet is launching the SME Credit Green Guarantee (BMKB-Green) to help entrepreneurs make their businesses more sustainable. By investing in this, SMEs can reduce their often greatly increased energy costs. Depending on their financier, entrepreneurs can make use of this scheme as of 7 November 2022. A total of up to €200 million in guarantees can be provided. The Council of Ministers has approved this regulation on the proposal of Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate.
Minister Adriaansens: “Many SMEs have to deal with high energy costs. By making your business operations more sustainable, you can reduce costs. To this end, the cabinet is introducing the BMKB-Green scheme, with which the government will guarantee investments on favorable terms. In addition, we are also taking over part of the sharply increased energy costs via the price ceiling for small consumers and the Energy Cost Contribution (TEK) for energy-intensive SMEs. The costs of sustainability are financed with the BMKB-Groen supplementary scheme.”
The BMKB-Green helps the entrepreneur to reduce the costs of energy. The loan can be used, for example, to purchase an electric oven or to make the business premises more sustainable. It is a favorable variant of the regular BMKB scheme for entrepreneurs. For example, a guarantee percentage of 67.5% on balance now applies to all entrepreneurs, so a 90% guarantee on 75% guarantee credit. A higher guarantee percentage offers more opportunities to finance more entrepreneurs. A lower standard premium (commission) of 2% also applies for guarantees with a term up to and including 6 years and a premium of 3% for guarantees with a duration of longer than 6 years and up to a maximum of 12 years. The Ministry of Economic Affairs guarantees 90% of a loan of a maximum of € 1.5 million per company.
Making SMEs more sustainable
Making SMEs more sustainable is not only important for achieving the goals of the climate agreement. Increasing electricity and gas prices have even made it necessary to invest in sustainability. Many SMEs have no or insufficient resources of their own to pay for this themselves. A loan can then be a solution, but financiers are often reluctant because investments in sustainability are not quickly recouped. The risk for the financier is therefore higher. With the BMKB-Green, the cabinet offers a solution to these financing problems.
To request
Applying for a loan under the BMKB-Green goes through the financier of the SME. Non-bank financiers can open the BMKB-Green as of 7 November. Banks need more time to implement the scheme and can offer the BMKB-Green as of 2023.
SMEs who want to make use of the scheme must meet a number of conditions.
- The BMKB-Green is available for companies with a maximum of 250 employees (FTE) with an annual turnover of up to €50 million or a balance sheet total of up to €43 million.
- For investments in business assets, those assets must be included on the EIA list. This list can be consulted on the RVO website.
- Investments in business premises must at least lead to energy label C.