2022 will go down as a difficult year for Europe. Russia’s war brought extreme suffering to Ukraine, and high energy prices to households across Europe. The climate crisis continued to worsen, with deadly heatwaves and fires. Increasing global competition threatened the EU’s future competitiveness and prosperity.

At the same time, 2022 triggered a common realisation that by transitioning to a clean economy, Europe would tackle the climate crisis, while becoming energy resilient and increasing our competitiveness. At last, cleantech rose to become the main strategic priority for policymakers in Brussels and member states. Members of the EuropeanParliament launched the Cleantech Friendship Group and later in the year, theEuropean Commission prepared to start new legislation on cleantech. We joined leading European companies to form a Cleantech Scale-up Coalition, with the support of European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Bill Gates.

Despite an incredibly challenging financial environment, European cleantech investment experienced its second-best year ever, with more than double the investment of 2020, but decreasing from the 2021 all-time record. In particular, early-stage investment soared, while scale-up finance fell.
‍
So what will 2023 hold for European cleantech?Political attention to European cleantech will continue to rise. The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act will respond to the US Inflation Reduction Act. This could be transformative, but only if it is part of a comprehensive EU cleantech strategy addressing challenges around scale-up financing, demand, regulation, infrastructure, supply chains and skills, and only if it materialises in a matter of months, not years.

As it becomes more political, cleantech must not become a buzzword to legitimise grey investment. The EU should prioritise the most ambitious technologies available.

While this winter proved milder than expected, the next could be more challenging. Electrifying our energy system and building up our renewable base will be a race against the clock.

On the investment side, our ability to finance the scale-up of clean technologies will be our main test. If we don’t improve, we will see promising European technologies move to the US to scale.

We believe 2023 will be a decisive year for European cleantech. We will continue to mobilise the cleantech community to help the EU lead the global cleantech race.