28/06/2025
Resilience through innovation: Europe's clean tech ecosystem gains ground
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Earlier this year, a powerful message echoed from the heart of Europe at the Clean Tech Conference in Brussels: resilience lies not in withdrawal, but in renewed commitment. The call was clear—double down on investment, innovation, and regulatory certainty. At the centre of the conversation was the Clean Industrial Deal, as leaders tackled a central question: how can we scale up decarbonisation and Europe’s competitiveness without compromising economic strength?
Across the continent, our network is helping turn this ambition into reality. We and our partners are working to embed European clean technology into broader efforts to scale up and build a resilient industrial fabric that drives the EU’s competitiveness and economic renewal, delivering lasting benefits to communities and workers alike while fostering a deeper and more inclusive understanding of the transition.
Clean tech as a pan-European driver for industrial renewal
A growing movement is taking shape across Europe, driven by a common goal: making clean technology central to the industrial transition. We’re advancing this vision through a Europe-wide effort that connects innovation, investment and policy. As part of this, we support the Cleantech for Europe network in shaping tools that help climate tech companies scale. Just last week, this reached a major milestone with the launch of the CleantechEU Guarantee Scheme, a landmark initiative the coalition has long championed to unlock capital for innovators.
Meanwhile, progress is also taking root at the national level. In Italy, we co-founded Cleantech for Italy in 2024, bringing together leading researchers, investors, startups, and institutions to align national priorities with technological development. In Spain and Portugal, our local partner Cleantech for Iberia—launched in 2023—is fostering cross-sector collaboration and championing a clean tech alliance with civil society organisations, contributing to a 37% increase in clean tech investment in the region. Our UK clean tech partner played a key role in defining the recent 2025 industrial policy, embedding net zero and clean energy across sectors with over £30 billion in public investment. And in France, a comparable organisation is driving high-level advocacy to secure stronger and faster support for clean industrial projects, including through an open letter to lawmakers.
Amplifying stories of a clean industrial future
While the European effort gains ground, success also hinges on national leadership, local action, and public support. In several regions, our network is working with partners to bring the Clean Industrial Deal closer to communities, using public engagement, culture, and media to shape a shared vision.
In Italy, we’ve teamed up with influential media collectives, helping foster an informed debate on the transition’s challenges and opportunities through powerful storytelling. Cesura’s photojournalistic project captures real success examples of the electrification of Italian industry, while Will Media’s documentary The Electric Skeleton explores the crucial role and the challenges of upgrading Italy’s electricity.
In Spain, awareness is also growing with clean tech entering everyday conversations through media and civil society. For instance, Climate influencer Javier Peña (HOPE), supported by ECF since 2022, launched a documentary series with Paul Hawken exploring proven climate solutions across 17 countries. Premiered on public television in April 2025, it has helped spark a broader conversation around hope, action, and real-world impact, including around clean industrialisation.
Industry voices rally for bold action
In parallel, we’re working with partners in the UK and Poland to shift the conversation around industry to show that cleaner industries aren’t just necessary—they’re also a major opportunity for jobs, growth, and national security.
In the UK, our network is helping balance the debate around industrial development. In addition to highlighting the risks of not modernising traditional industries, recent analysis by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and CBI Economics show how clean power and net zero manufacturing industries have grown year on year, providing new jobs that pay well and often appear in areas hit hard by industrial decline. Meanwhile, we’ve been working with the Local Storytelling Exchange since 2021 to showcase how decarbonisation is being put into action. From Europe’s largest battery storage facility to electric bin lorries and green shipping hubs in the North East and Scotland, we’ve put the spotlight on real-world examples that demonstrate how the transition to net zero can fuel economic revival.
Meanwhile, in Poland, the Institute for the Future of Poland is leading a similar effort, promoting clean tech as a national strength. With a strong track record of working across business, media, and public institutions, the Institute is helping bring visibility and momentum to innovative Polish companies driving sustainable industrial change. Together, we’re helping amplify these examples, including through platforms like the popular YouTube channel “This is IT,” reaching over 30,000 viewers and sparking widespread engagement.
The road ahead
These efforts shed light on the human and infrastructural challenges of decarbonisation, building broader understanding and support from investors and decision-makers around climate-forward solutions across Europe.
Our goal is to help shape a bold yet pragmatic vision for a clean industrial future—one that blends innovation, job creation, and energy security with a strong European industrial fabric. These initiatives at the EU level, in Italy, Spain, Poland and beyond draw strength from the diversity of voices involved—from civil society and local governments to businesses of all sizes, each playing a vital role in this transformation.