Écoleader Fund

Admission criteria

To be eligible, the applicant must:

• Be a legally constituted for-profit or social economy enterprise, registered with the Quebec Enterprise Registrar (REQ) and incorporated under the laws of the Government of Quebec or Canada;
• Have a commercial establishment in Quebec.

The FAQDD reserves the right to request additional information on the applicant's type of incorporation, in order to verify eligibility.

The following clienteles are not eligible:

• Sole proprietorships (self-employed);
• Syndicates of co-ownership, associations and groups of persons;
• Financial services companies and other companies under the authority of the Autorité des marchés financiers, including insurance companies or brokers;
• A company incorporated as an undeclared partnership under the Québec Enterprise Register;
• Companies listed in the Registre des entreprises non admissibles aux contrats publics (RENA). This situation also applies to experts and subcontractors registered with RENA who are expected to carry out work on the project;
• Companies that, during the two years preceding the application for financial assistance, have failed to meet their obligations after having been duly put on notice by the Ministère or by Investissement Québec in connection with the granting of previous financial assistance by one of these two organizations;
• Crown corporations or corporations controlled directly or indirectly by a government (municipal, provincial or federal), a municipal entity or companies that are majority-owned by a Crown corporation, with the exception of those owned by band councils and Aboriginal communities;
• Companies under the protection of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act;
• Holding companies;
• Companies whose ethical conduct is likely to tarnish, even by association, the Québec government's image of integrity and probity;
• Companies whose business involves the following:
  • Weapons production or distribution;
  • Exploration, extraction, drilling, production and refining of fossil fuels, such as petroleum and thermal coal, with the exception of activities aimed at the transition to a low-carbon economy;
  • Gambling, violent games, combat sports involving any living species, racing or similar activities;
  • Sexual exploitation, for example an erotic bar, an escort agency, an erotic massage parlor or a swingers club;
  • Production, sale and services related to the consumption of tobacco or drugs;
  • Any activity whose main subject is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (religion, politics, advocacy, etc.).

Financial assistance

Here are the terms for financial assistance for the adoption of ecoresponsible practices:

• A maximum of60 000$for projects aimed at acquiring eco-responsible business practices
• A maximum of40 000$for projects to prepare for the acquisition of clean technologies

Financial assistance cannot exceed 75% of eligible expenses, and will never exceed a cumulative amount of $60,000 per company, regardless of the number of projects and categories involved.

Submit your project

Companies or organizations wishing to submit a project are invited to consult and use the tools at their disposal to facilitate the submission process:

• This Applicant's Guide ;
• The Écoleader Fund directory of experts;
• The Project Submission Kit.

The latter contains a number of examples, templates and tools that are essential for obtaining funding from the Fonds Écoleader. You need to download it to consult it.

The project application form can be found on the Fonds Écoleader website. Once the form has been completed, the applicant must click on "send" within the allotted time to make the application official. An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to the applicant.

In all cases, our business advisors can assist you. We look forward to hearing from you!