The European Commission has unveiled a Clean Industrial Deal, a business plan for supporting the competitiveness and resilience of the country's industries. The deal aims to accelerate decarbonization while also maintaining the security of Europe's manufacturing future. It mainly focuses on two closely related sectors: energy-intensive industries and clean technologies. 

This deal may impact private market firms, asset managers, and investors by providing substantial funding opportunities through mechanisms like the Innovation Fund and InvestEU. It might also create new investment avenues in clean tech and energy-intensive industries, thereby aligning financial interests with decarbonization goals.

Let's discuss the Clean Industry Deal in detail. 

About the Clean Industrial Deal

The Clean Industrial Deal is an initiative or regulatory framework to position decarbonization as a powerful growth driver for European industries. The sector of focus includes energy-intensive industries and clean technologies: 

• The energy-intensive sector requires urgent support to decarbonize and electrify. The industry faces high energy costs, unfair global competition, and complex regulations that harm its competitiveness.
• Cleantech is crucial for industrial transformation and is at the heart of competitiveness and growth. 

Furthermore, the plan also highlights that circularity is central because it plays a crucial role in maximizing the EU's limited resources and reduces over-reliance on third-country raw material suppliers.

"Europe is not only a continent of industrial innovation, but also a continent of industrial production. However, the demand for clean products has slowed, and some investments have moved to other regions. We know that too many obstacles still stand in the way of our European companies, from high energy prices to excessive regulatory burdens. The Clean Industrial Deal is to cut the ties that still hold our companies back and make a clear business case for Europe." — said President Ursula von der Leyen. 

Key aspects of the Clean Industrial Deal

• The Deal presents steps to strengthen the entire value chain. It provides a framework for customizing action in particular fields. In March, the Commission will unveil its Action Plan for the automotive sector, and in the spring, it will unveil its Action Plan for steel and metals. Additional specific measures are proposed for the clean technology and chemical industries.
• Competitiveness is built on affordable energy. Therefore, to reduce energy costs for consumers, businesses, and industries, the Commission today adopted an Action Plan on Affordable Energy. The Act will increase energy efficiency by completing our domestic energy market with physical connections, accelerating electrification, accelerating the rollout of sustainable energy, and reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels.
• The Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act will raise demand for clean products produced in the EU by adding sustainability, resilience, and made-in-Europe requirements to public and private procurements. When the Public Procurement Framework is reviewed in 2026, the Commission will implement sustainability, resilience, and European preference criteria in public procurement for strategic sectors.
• The Clean Industrial Deal is expected to soon raise over €100 billion to promote clean manufacturing in the EU. Furthermore, €1 billion in guarantees under the current Multiannual Financial Framework are included in this sum.
• The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group will also introduce several tangible new financing tools to assist the Clean Industrial Deal. 
• A Grid's manufacturing package' to provide counter-guarantees and other de-risking support to grid components. 
• The SMEs and energy-intensive businesses participate in a combined European Commission-EIB pilot initiative providing counter-guarantees for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
• Establish a CleanTech guarantee facility through the InvestEU-powered Tech EU program.

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