Ambition Must Translate into Action: 2025 Commission Work Programme
Carbon-Free Europe welcomes the European Commission’s 2025 Work Programme and its commitment to strengthening Europe’s energy security, industrial competitiveness, and decarbonisation efforts. With the Clean Industrial Deal, the Action Plan on Affordable Energy, and the Roadmap to End Russian Energy Imports, the Commission has set a clear direction. It is critical that these commitments translate into tangible actions that deliver a secure, affordable, and competitive clean energy system for Europe.
A Strong Start, but Speed and Scale Are Critical
CFE supports the Commission’s recognition that energy availability and affordability is the foundation of industrial competitiveness. Europe's ability to lead in clean industrial innovation hinges on its capacity to turn policy ambition into real-world deployment. High energy costs and slow project approvals are eroding competitiveness, while global rivals move quickly to capture market share in clean technology. The Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act and Fitness Check on Energy Security must do more than assess challenges—they must remove private investment barriers, and create the conditions for industries to scale clean solutions at pace. Without urgent reform, Europe risks not just higher costs but a shrinking role in the industries of the future.
Removing barriers to clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and low-carbon fuels is critical to ensuring that decarbonisation strengthens, rather than weakens, industrial competitiveness. Delays in clean energy investment and continued reliance on external energy sources expose Europe to supply shocks and rising industrial costs. Failing to accelerate clean technology deployment will only increase economic risk and undermine long-term energy security.
Without decisive action, Europe risks losing its competitive edge to regions like the U.S. and China, which are rapidly scaling up clean energy but also benefiting from lower energy costs due to continued reliance on fossil fuels and less stringent climate commitments. While Europe has set the standard for ambitious decarbonisation, its ability to compete globally depends on making clean energy an economic advantage rather than a cost burden. By accelerating clean technology deployment, streamlining permitting, and ensuring affordable access to low-carbon energy, Europe can enhance its industrial competitiveness while maintaining its leadership in the net-zero transition.
Decarbonisation as an Economic Strategy
CFE recognises the ambition of the proposed 90% reduction target by 2040, as outlined in the amendment of the European Climate Law, and the EU’s ongoing efforts to phase out fossil fuel dependencies. However, ambition alone is not enough. To be credible, the EU must provide the right market signals, including unlocking private financing barriers, to ensure that European industries can decarbonise while remaining competitive. Technology inclusivity is key—all clean energy solutions, including renewables, nuclear, hydrogen, and CCS, must be fully leveraged to maximise Europe’s trajectory to achieving climate targets in the fastest and most economically beneficial way.
Where More Action is Needed
Further action is needed to ensure the success of Europe’s clean energy and industrial strategy. As part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the European Competitiveness Fund should guarantee robust investment capacity to support key technologies and strategic sectors vital to the EU’s competitiveness and decarbonisation pathway. The EU’s financing framework must provide clear mechanisms for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), investment de-risking, and infrastructure expansion to attract global capital. Expanding the Innovation Fund and introducing cleantech investment guarantees will help bridge the gap between policy ambition and market realities.
However, achieving Europe’s climate and competitiveness goals cannot rely solely on public finances, it requires greater private investment. Therefore it remains key to further build out one of the EU’s greatest asset, its Single Market, and make significant progress on the integration of EU’s capital markets. While the upcoming communication on the Savings and Investments Union shows the recognition of this objective, it will be key to follow through on this project with ambitious initiatives to facilitate investments and promote the use of private capital to scale clean technologies and drive industrial decarbonisation.
Permitting delays remain one of the biggest obstacles to clean energy deployment. Without meaningful reform, Europe risks losing momentum in building the infrastructure needed to meet its climate and competitiveness goals (see Figure 1). A technology-inclusive approach is also essential in driving deep industrial decarbonisation. Nuclear power derived hydrogen must be fully-recognised under EU policies, and CCS must be integrated into industrial decarbonisation strategies to provide viable pathways for hard-to-abate sectors.
Our Call to Action
The EU’s 2025 Work Programme sets the right direction, but now words must be followed by actions. Delivering a secure, decarbonised, and competitive Europe requires pragmatic, investment-driven policies that remove regulatory bottlenecks, provide clear financial incentives, and create a level playing field for all clean energy solutions.
Figure 1: A snapshot of CFE’s downscaled infrastructure map that provides a more granular picture of the deployment of clean energy for a variety of decarbonisation scenarios. Click on image to get to our downscaled infrastructure map tool and check out your area of interest. On the website, hover over the map to see just how much buildout is needed to reach net-zero.
