Investment aid promotes economic growth and supports the achievement of climate goals

Industrial investment aid is a strategic decision by the state to enhance Finland's competitiveness in the global race for investments. Investments targeted at key sectors - such as renewable energy production, energy efficiency, and battery material production - are expected to bring billion-euro business and export growth opportunities to Finland.

“Business Finland is pleased to play a key role in implementing industrial policy by supporting the launch of significant growth investments and leveraging private investment capital. With our funding, the industrial investments now being launched will be reflected in economic growth and leaps in achieving climate goals in the coming years,” says Business Finland’s Director General Lassi Noponen.

“Investment aid has significantly increased the willingness of both foreign and Finnish companies to invest in Finland in projects that might otherwise not have been implemented at all or would have been directed to other countries,” says Program Director Sini Uuttu at Business Finland.

Investment grants fuel projects that benefit all of Finland

The investment grant launched at the beginning of 2025 for large projects aiming at climate neutrality was targeted at investment projects with costs of at least €30 million.

In projects supported by investment grant, companies invest in emission reductions in production processes, energy efficiency, and clean transition technologies, building new value chains across Finland.

The first funding decisions were made in summer 2025 for five companies. The last grant decision was made on November 14, 2025, for Novana Oy´s project to build the world's first carbon-neutral vanadium production plant in Tahkoluoto, Pori. The vanadium plant to be built by Novana Oy will operate by recycling industrial side streams, from which vanadium is separated using patented leaching technology. Vanadium is a metal defined as a critical raw material by the EU, which is used, among other things, in the manufacture of special steels and in the battery and energy industries.

“Business Finland's EUR 48.7 million support is a significant step towards the realization of Europe's first vanadium plant,” says Johanna Lamminen, CEO of Novana Oy. Read more in Novana´s press release.

All recipients of investment grant

• Atria: EUR 24.7 million
• Easpring Finland New Materials: EUR 115.4 million
• Fazer Makeiset: EUR 19.5 million
• Fortum Battery Recycling: EUR 84.6 million
• Metsä Tissue: EUR 19 million
• Novana EUR 48.7 million
   

The grant decisions have been made by Business Finland, based on the government decree concerning support, after consultation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The investment grant is discretionary, and its allocation considered factors such as the technical and financial feasibility of the investment project, its environmental impact, and its effects on employment and the regional economy. Additionally, the investments must meet several technical criteria defined in the EU state aid framework. The grant is based on EU’s temporary state aid programme, which provides member states the flexibility to adapt their economies and energy markets to the crisis caused by Russia’s war of aggression. 

Investment grant is paid retroactively based on costs incurred.  The support will only be disbursed to the company once construction work has officially commenced.

Tax credits were actively sought

The application period for tax credits, which ended in August 2025, resulted in 54 applications. The total volume of the proposed investment projects is over 20 billion euros. The amount of tax credit applied for is just under three billion euros. Business Finland will process the applications during the autumn.

A company can utilize the tax credit after the investment has been made, the facility is operational, and the profitable business generated produces taxable income. The tax credit is deducted from company's income tax in the year the investment is completed and for the following 19 tax years, as the company accrues payable corporate tax. The company can deduct the credit from payable corporate tax starting from 2028 at the earliest.

Implementation of a new tax credit call is open

The tax credit is based on the state aid framework for clean industrial development issued by the Commission in June 2025, which is valid until the end of 2030. In the spring 2025 budget session, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government planned to continue supporting large clean transition investments with a tax credit. The timing of a possible new tax credit application is not yet known, as national legislation is required before the tax credit can be reopened for applications. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for preparing the law.