Last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission announced a Green Deal Industrial Plan to make Europe the “home of cleantech.” This was a sorely needed response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, creating a path to de-risk green supply chains, reduce the cost of the transition and reclaim EU strategic sovereignty. But since then, the EU has been unable to secure the investments needed to match our ambitions, leaving a glaring cleantech investment gap.
As EU leaders travel again to Davos, the 30 European innovators, investors, think-tanks, and business associations tagged below have come together to ask for concrete measures to double the EU’s cleantech investments and ensure the EU’s climate and industrial leadership:
- Defend the Multiannual Financial Framework budget allocations to STEP and Horizon Europe
- Sharpen the focus on strategic net-zero technologies
- Use EU Emissions Trading System revenues to invest in Net-Zero Industrial Transformation
- Boost and broaden the European Investment Bank’s counter-guarantee facility
As EU elections approach, there is an opportunity to respond to citizens’ climate concerns and kickstart an engaged process with Member States to develop a long-term Cleantech Investment Plan that can address the massive funding gap for key technologies and turn the Green Deal Industrial Plan into a reality.
Read the full text of the open letter at Cleantech for Europe’s website.