Apply Now: Zero Emissions Award 2025

The Zero Emissions Award from the alpha+ Foundation of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's largest privately sponsored grant for climate-relevant basic research, providing up to €900,000 in funding for pioneering projects. Researchers can apply at any time; proposals submitted by the end of October will be decided on in the next round in June 2025.

July 30, 2024

FWF Zero Emissions Award Pokale vor buntem Hintergrund — Winners of the Zero Emissions Award receive funding to conduct basic research for a sustainable future and generate new knowledge for the energy transition. © FWF/Klaus Ranger

The alpha+ Foundation of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is inviting researchers from all disciplines to submit proposals for the 2025 Zero Emissions Award. The award goes to research projects that close knowledge gaps in the field of the energy transition or pursue promising new approaches. The aim is to use new findings generated by basic research to help Austria achieve its goal of climate neutrality by 2040. The funding allows researchers and their teams to devote themselves to investigating a research question in depth for up to four years.

The next round of Zero Emissions Awards to be presented in June 2025

In principle, researchers can apply for the Zero Emissions Award all year round. Applications received by the FWF by the end of October will be reviewed and decided upon for the second round of awards. A decision is expected in June 2025. This award is aimed at researchers from all disciplines who are conducting research in the field of renewable energies and the energy transition (in the funding programs Principal Investigator Projects and ESPRIT).

The research projects should focus on one of the following three areas:

Basic research from all scientific disciplines with the potential to initiate innovations in the field of renewable energies and the energy transition
Basic research for technologies that contribute to the success of the energy transition
Basic research in the field of behavioral research on the use of renewable energies

Funding bonus thanks to private donations

Compared to standard Principal Investigator Project funding, the Zero Emissions Awards offer an increased budget of 15% for general project costs; projects in the ESPRIT program receive an additional 10%.

Awards to be presented at the 2025 FWF Wittgenstein Award ceremony

The ceremonial presentation of the Zero Emissions Awards will take place at the FWF Wittgenstein Award ceremony in June 2025. Watch this video for an overview of the first round of Zero Emissions Awards and for more information on the first winners: