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EBF Hosts Event on Making the Clean Industrial Deal Bankable

Brussels, 9 July 2025 – The European Banking Federation (EBF), in partnership with the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), hosted a high-level, invite-only event on 3 July 2025, “Making the Clean Industrial Deal Bankable”. This pivotal event brought together over 80 key stakeholders from the financial sector, industry, and public sector, with the shared goal of accelerating finance for industrial decarbonisation.

The Clean Industrial Deal (CID) represents a cornerstone of Europe’s industrial strategy, aiming to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, strengthen strategic autonomy, and secure Europe’s global competitiveness. To meet the estimated €1.5 trillion investment required by 2030, the role of the financial sector, especially banks that fund roughly 70% of the EU economy, is indispensable. However, the transformation at the scale required will only happen if it makes economic sense, and technological progress and suitable climate industrial policies are two important preconditions to accelerate financial flows and decarbonise whole industries.

The event covered key topics to understand how to increase the bankability of clean industrial projects. High-level panels addressed the role of banks, lessons from national banking associations, and the engagement in industry climate policies, while roundtables focused on more specific questions – de-risking mechanisms, including new EIB’s pilot programme on green power purchase agreements and the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, sectoral perspectives, with emphasis on the chemical and transport sectors, and policy enablers, including faster permitting and carbon contracts for difference.

Unclear market demand and business case for CID initiatives, fragmentation of regulatory frameworks and regulatory complexity, political uncertainty, lack of blended finance tools, as well as energy costs and bottlenecks were among the most common barriers highlighted during the event. Whereas participants emphasised the need for stronger de-risking mechanisms and policy support to improve project bankability, tailored support for SMEs, stressing also that streamlined reporting, permitting, and procurement processes are critical for faster and more cost-effective investments.

Overall, the event underscored that public-private collaboration, regulatory clarity, and innovative financing tools are essential to make the Clean Industrial Deal bankable, ensuring industrial transformation is not only environmentally ambitious but also economically sound and globally competitive.

For more information:

Denisa Avermaete, Head of Sustainable Finance, D.Avermaete@ebf.eu

Jānis Priekulis, Policy Adviser – Sustainable Finance, j.priekulis@ebf.eu

The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together national banking associations from across Europe. The federation is committed to a thriving European economy that is underpinned by a stable, secure, and inclusive financial ecosystem, and to a flourishing society where financing is available to fund the dreams of citizens, businesses and innovators everywhere.