Measures to offset rising energy and transport costs

Energy prices soared in 2022, as a result of which the Nordic countries have started to introduce compensation schemes for households and businesses, e.g. energy-tax relief, lower VAT, compulsory emission reductions and direct financial support to consumers. Measures designed to reduce emissions in the transport and energy sectors include changes to excise duties and a gradual increase in the proportion of biofuels that can be added to petrol and diesel. The imposition of cost ceilings can have the opposite effect, so it is relevant to include existing instruments when analysing the impact of new ones.

The project must include a review of all measures in the Nordic countries – both those currently in place, and those newly announced. Due to the varied nature of these measures, two types of effects will be interesting to analyse:

• Distributional effects between and within groups of households and businesses – for households, this includes levels of economic vulnerability and the differences between urban and rural areas; for businesses, the key consideration is which sectors benefit
• Effects relating to the purpose of the original environmental-economic instrument, i.e. limiting emissions with a view to achieving environmental and climate effects. A key question is how incentives aimed at lowering emissions are affected by measures designed to limit costs.

The project must also pay attention to and highlight possible alternative measures that can ensure appropriate redistribution while also maintaining the environmental and climate effects of the measures as far as possible. Where feasible, the extent to which compensation schemes have considered these alternatives should also be taken into account.

This analysis is particularly relevant given the situation on the energy markets in early 2023. One key perspective for the project will be how measures maintain their environmental and climate effects if prices fall again in the short term, e.g. in a year, in which case the measures could present a problem for the green transition. Another consideration is whether the Nordic countries have made any attempt to coordinate their compensation schemes. Is there a risk of one country being overly generous and the measures having a negative spillover effect on its neighbours?

The budget framework for the project is DKK 400,000 (incl. VAT). The budget should cover standard project expenses as well as travel and communications.

The NME must receive tenders no later than 27 March 2023, at 15:00 CET. All documents must be submitted by this deadline. Material received after this date will not be taken into consideration. A decision will be made in early April, and all applicants will be notified. The date for the final report will be set in the project contract.

Applications must be e-mailed to NME’s administrative body (registratur.sodraosterbotten@ntm-centralen.fi). The project description/application form and compulsory budget form must all be in one of the Nordic languages or English. Applications must cite the journal number EPOELY/391/2022.

Additional appendices may be submitted describing in greater detail the factors that the working group will consider in our assessment, e.g. a separate project description. CVs should be sent as a single, separate file.

In assessing the tenderers, emphasis will be placed on:

• the structure and planning of the work, including methodology and how relevant data will be collected and processed
• the distribution of responsibilities, use of time, general skills, and qualifications of those managing and implementing the project
• the expenditure for the proposed project period, including hourly rates per person and other expenses
• the tenderer’s previous experience in the area
• the Nordic contacts and networks that will be used in the project and fluency in the Nordic languages
• the timetable
• the planned dissemination of the project.

Further information about funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers is available here:

NME will select the project based on their assessments of the applications. The working group reserves the right to reject all applications.

Please refer to the appendices for further information regarding project content (in Swedish) and funding requirements: