The Clean Transition Dialogues held in Brussels are chaired by President Ursula von der Leyen and Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič to facilitate cooperation  with industry and prepare for the next phase of the European Green Deal: implementation.

The latest Dialogue focused on clean tech saw 26 key representatives from industry and clean tech sectors attend, including InnoEnergy’s CEO Diego Pavia and four of InnoEnergy’s portfolio companies GravitHy (low-carbon iron producer), Verkor (sustainable battery cell manufacturer), Ecop (rotation heat pump for industry) and Skeleton Technologies (energy storage solutions).

Diego Pavia, CEO of InnoEnergy outlined the clear and compelling investment case for climate tech investors created through Europe’s regulatory certainty on its decarbonisation path. The European Climate Law, and interim targets to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 create huge demand and a clear market incentive for climate technologies. In turn, the EU’s recently finalized Green Deal Industrial Plan is another strong signal to the market that there is a strategy to capture domestic demand with domestic supply. Under the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act, 40% of clean technologies will need to be made domestically by 2030.

To continue strengthening competitiveness of European industry in clean tech sectors, there is more to be done to ensure an enabling regulatory environment and access to both public and private investment. EIT InnoEnergy outlined two key priority areas for focus:

 

• A sustainable product policy for competitive European products: Putting sustainability criteria (carbon footprint thresholds, traceability, and recyclability) at the core of the European market will ensure the long-term competitive edge of Europe’s climate tech industries and set the bar for the global market. The EU’s recently adopted Battery Regulation serves as a blue-print for other net-zero technologies.
• An enhanced financial framework from seed to scale: Significant steps have been taken to unlock financing for clean tech through the progressive deployment of state aid and new OPEX support through the Innovation Fund. Going forward, the EU will need to further leverage public funds where it counts (at early-stage, rewarding the best performers and most impactful projects in climate technologies value chains). Innovation in public financing tools can also catalyze private investment. For later-stage investments, the heavy lifting for funding can only be achieved together with private finance.