Clermont Auvergne Métropole has embarked fully on its ecological transition, and is keen to get businesses on board. It has devised a range of services to accompany you along the path of major environmental and societal challenges and directly finance your positive-impact projects – whether you’re in the “beginner” or “black belt” team.
Support
– direct human contact and collective dynamics that build strength ;
– practical tools tailored to your needs.
A single point of entry
To help you sort through what’s available, access the right resources at the right time, and be directed straight to the right people, Métropole is your gateway.
A guide to useful resources
Need a clearer picture of the grants and resources available to help your company make the ecological and social transition?
Clermont Auvergne Métropole has cleared the way for you and offers you a resource booklet presenting :
– self-assessment tools
– assistance from Métropole
– local support structures
– free online training courses
– useful websites
– thematic resources
– collective approaches and local structures
To receive this guide, please contact us!
TransiScore: a self-assessment tool to test sustainable maturity
Clermont Auvergne Métropole is pulling out all the stops to give you the means to get up to speed and move towards a positive-impact economy. To get off on the right foot, assessing where you stand on issues of ecology, resilience or the new economic forms of the future (regenerative, circular, impact, social and solidarity-based…) is an effective first step. Guess what? The Metropole has designed a self-diagnosis tool for companies in its area.
> I assess my company’s ecological transition with transiscore
Eco-challenges: a label for craftsmen committed to protecting the planet
The Métropole and the Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes invite you to take part in the éco-défis des artisans! Thanks to this label, supported by ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), you can promote your actions in favor of the environment to your customers, get personalized advice to improve your practices, and benefit from free communication on your approach!
How does it work? 44 eco-challenges are proposed in 6 themes: waste, products, mobility, energy, water and social issues. Each challenge is worth between 1 and 3 stars.
– Choose at least 3 eco-challenges to meet
– You implement them with the help of the Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat.
– After a few months, you prove that the challenges have been met, and your file is examined by an award committee.
– Your company is recognized and promoted at a prize-winner event, and you communicate with your customers using the communication kit provided.
– You can choose to take on new challenges to raise your level (3 certification levels: bronze, silver and gold).
Contact: Richard ANDRE – 04 73 31 52 31 – richard.andre@cma-auvergnerhonealpes.fr
For a positive-impact economy: technical and financial assistance to take action
Ready to commit your company to an ecological and social transition? Métropole can provide you with technical support and financial assistance to help you take action.
> Find out how to benefit from this assistance
3 ways to commit to sustainable tourism
Would you like to make a commitment to sustainable development and contribute to a more responsible tourist destination? Minimize the impact of your activity on the environment, positively influence the development of our region, while guaranteeing the viability of your business? Métropole can help you initiate or pursue your sustainable transition, make savings and raise awareness of responsible tourism among your staff and customers, through 3 dedicated schemes:
- Personalized CSR support for accommodation and restaurants
up to €2,500 to help you launch your approach - Support for the labeling/certification of accommodation and restaurants
to finance part of the audit or membership fees, or to fund individual expert support in setting up the process - Support for the responsible classification of furnished accommodation
up to 140€ for a classification audit
> Find out how to apply for these grants
Acting for the ecological transition of business parks
The Metropole has set up the “Agir pour la transition écologique des zones d’activités économiques (ZAE)” initiative to unite ZAE players (companies, developers, construction professionals, economic partners) around a shared vision and concrete actions to reconcile economic efficiency, respect for the environment and well-being for all. It relies on two structuring tools:
- a guide listing the themes and examples of actions proposed by the Métropole,
- a commitment form for companies wishing to get involved voluntarily.
Companies can join the approach by choosing at least 3 of the 9 themes of commitment proposed by the metropolis:
- land sobriety
- sober energy management
- waste management and circular economy
- mobility of goods and people
- water management
- preserving biodiversity
- quality of working environment
- social responsibility
- animating and promoting committed companies
In return, the Metropolis undertakes to support each participant individually and collectively, through personalized meetings, group workshops, networking, advice and promotion of the companies involved.
The aim is to foster the emergence of a genuine community of companies committed to the Metropole’s business parks, promoting synergies and cooperation for sustainable, environmentally-friendly workspaces.
Find out more about our ambassadors here
Want to join the community of committed companies? Contact us now!
Group workshops
To move together in the same direction, there’s nothing better than a common, shared culture. The Métropole regularly organizes collective meetings, in partnership with local transition players. For example? An “energy sobriety for businesses” workshop to share tips and advice from structures making progress on the issue, a session presenting transition aid from the Banque publique d’investissement (Bpi France) and Ademe, in partnership with French Tech Clermont Auvergne, or an outing to “discover the biodiversity of the Cournon business park”. The program for 2026 includes events focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), biodiversity and the circular economy.
> All events related to the ecological transition and SSE
> Listen to the Résilience and Entreprises podcasts, round-table discussions with local public and private players.
Now’s the time to join the movement and be kept informed of upcoming events!
Go green with the “decarbonation” pack
Help to change your vehicle
To improve air quality, Clermont Auvergne Métropole created a low-emission zone (ZFE) in July 2023. Within this ZFE, which covers the 21 communes of the Metropole, the most polluting vehicles are banned. Are you affected? The Métropole has thought of everything, with assistance ranging from €200 to €3,000 for the purchase or lease of a low-emission vehicle, whether it’s a cargo bike, a scooter, a utility vehicle or a heavy goods vehicle weighing less than 10 tonnes. It also works if you want to buy a diesel or used car, provided you opt for a Crit’air 0, 1 or 2 vehicle.
The Crit’Air sticker classifies vehicles according to their pollutant emissions. It is compulsory to drive in Clermont Ferrand’s ZFE.
Switching to renewable heat
By 2050, Clermont Auvergne Métropole aims to be a “Positive Energy Territory”. This implies, firstly, covering 100% of energy needs with renewable energies, and secondly, reducing the territory’s energy consumption by at least 50%. Businesses are at the forefront of this transition. So, for your renewable heat production projects, the Clermont-Ferrand Metropole has set up the “Chaleur+Demain” renewable energy contract with Ademe.
In a nutshell:
- free technical support throughout the project, provided by the local energy agency(Aduhme)
- grants to finance up to 70% of your feasibility studies and 50% of your investments in renewable heat production.
The result: serious savings on the cost of your solar thermal panels, wood-fired boiler, geothermal heat pump or connection to a heating network.
Whether you are an entrepreneur, shopkeeper or craftsman, you are certainly eligible: this assistance is open to all professionals with renewable heat projects.
Adopt a travel plan
Are you looking to optimize your employees’ commutes? Then you’ve probably heard of employer mobility plans (PdME): a set of measures designed to increase the efficiency of business travel and reduce air pollution. The PdME is compulsory for companies with more than 50 employees, and covers commuting to and from work, as well as deliveries of goods or visits from customers. In the arsenal of solutions, you can choose between adapting schedules to avoid rush hours, telecommuting, helping your employees to buy and maintain a bicycle, or setting up a company car-sharing scheme. For goods deliveries and transport, some regions are co-constructing carbon-free urban logistics solutions with private players. This is currently underway in the metropolitan area.
On a day-to-day basis, it’s SMTC-AC, the metropolitan structure that organizes transport in the area, that helps you build your PdME in 5 steps. But the Métropole is there to guide you.
Focus on people with the “positive social impact” package
A helping hand
Coup de Pouce is Clermont Auvergne Métropole’s support for local businesses, crafts and services that want to set up or expand in the town centers of the metropolis and the priority districts of Clermont-Ferrand. It finances up to 20% of investments, up to a maximum of €10,000, to support the local economy and social ties.
> Practical details and the 2025 call for projects
Social clause facilitators
Whether you’re a service provider or a client, a small business or a major corporation, you may be concerned by the “social clauses” that the Metropole and its partners are increasingly including in calls for tender. What are they used for?
- Boost local integration through employment, so that major construction projects, for example, have a positive social impact by benefiting those furthest from employment.
- Solve recruitment problems in sectors and trades with labor shortages (floor layers, carpet layers, facade layers, etc.).
In short, kill two birds with one stone in a win/win logic. A very good idea on paper, but one that may seem complex to implement. That’s why the Métropole has recruited some crack operators to support you: social clause facilitators. From defining the lots to be covered by the clauses, to organizing events to bring all the players together, the social clause facilitators live up to their name. They can even pre-select candidates for your recruitment needs!
Do you have a question about public procurement, need help drafting clauses, or want to increase your impact through inclusion?
Recrut’Seniors
Social innovation means going where others don’t go in your business practices, especially when it comes to recruitment. Are you a company or association manager looking to hire someone over 50? The Metropole can help you with the Recrut’seniors grant:
– 3,000 € for a fixed-term contract of 6 months or more
– 5,000 € for a permanent contract.
Preventing business difficulties
Taking care of the men and women who keep our local businesses going means taking care of the health of our businesses. And intervening as much as possible to prevent the difficulties you encounter from threatening your very existence and all the positive impact that comes with it. To this end, the Metropole now directly supports the association of judges of the Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme Commercial Court. It is possible to finance an audit, the aim being to help your company turn around.
The best way to find out more and get support is to talk about it. We’ll show you the way.
Supporting the SSE
Clermont-Auvergne Métropole is committed to the social solidarity economy. This commitment takes the form of funding for the region’s key structures: the Chambre régionale de l’ESS (Cress), the Union régionale des sociétés coopératives (Urscop), France Active… But that’s not all: Clermont-Auvergne Métropole also provides direct support for SSE project leaders. On the agenda: tailored technical support and a financial boost to help scops structure and sustain their activity.
Would you like to set up a scop to take over or launch a business? Are you looking for premises to open a “tiers-lieu”? Have you already found the premises in question, but need a helping hand to bring them up to standard and buy furniture? Would you like to share your experience with other cooperative entrepreneurs in the region? Your project is unique, and Métropole can help you make it a reality.
- 120,000 infunding for essential structures
- 47,500 investedin new third-places
- 95,000 releasedby the Metropole to support cooperative entrepreneurs