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Future Cleantech Architects

FCA

Analysis of technical fundamentals of the energy transition in hard-to-abate sectors and preparation of the results for subsequent consultation with decision-makers.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Dec 2025 · Clean technologies

Meeting with Jens Geier (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Dec 2025 · Exchange on Pathways to Decarbonize European Steel Production

Meeting with Kitti Nyitrai (Head of Unit Energy)

9 Oct 2025 · Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen policies

Response to European Innovation Act

2 Oct 2025

The EU Innovation Act provides a critical opportunity to strengthen Europes innovation architecture in support of climate neutrality, industrial competitiveness and decarbonization, and strategic autonomy. Current frameworks, Horizon Europe, the EIC, and Innovation Fund, have mobilized substantial resources, but structural weaknesses remain. Systemic underfunding of long duration energy storage (beyond li-ion batteries) and thermal energy storage (TES) threatens to delay the electrification of high-temperature heat, clean aviation and maritime, and low-carbon construction. These technologies are central to meeting 2030 and 2050 targets yet remain marginal in existing portfolios. For example, TES can be deployed to reduce the costs of electricity. From a cleantech perspective, the most urgent priority is to address persistent underinvestment in technologies essential for industrial decarbonization and system resilience. The Act should explicitly target to close these gaps, while maintaining a focus on hard-to-abate sectors and system-level enablers. Long duration and thermal storage are indispensable to a renewables-based power system; electrified high-temperature processes are a direct, efficient pathway for industrial decarbonization; and sustainable fuels, hybrid aircraft, and zero-emission vessels require long lead times that demand early and sustained innovation support. In construction, breakthroughs in cement, steel, and structural efficiency are critical to reducing embedded emissions. A coherent funding continuum is required. Today's fragmented pipeline prevents smooth progression from Horizon research to EIC start-up support, Innovation Fund demonstration, and large-scale industrial deployment. The Act should establish continuity across the full innovation journey, accelerate time-to-grant, and reduce administrative burdens for SMEs and first-of-a-kind projects. The EIC must increase its cleantech share from 24% in 2024 to at least 50%, while the Innovation Fund should expand the sectors covered (https://fcarchitects.org/2025/06/24/despite-progress-eu-funding-neglects-crucial-technologies-for-the-eu-to-reach-net-zero-by-2050/). Blended finance, guarantees, and performance-based offtake contracts are needed to de-risk investment in high-capex sectors. Policy alignment is equally essential. The Innovation Act should anchor itself in the Fit-for-55 and the Clean Industrial Deal. Linking with the Net-Zero Industry Act will ensure innovations translate into European manufacturing and resilient supply chains. Coordination with member states and regional strategies will leverage cohesion funding and mobilize private co-investment, including from institutional investors. The regulatory framework must evolve in parallel. Regulatory sandboxes for cleantech demonstration projects can reduce bottlenecks caused by fragmented permitting and administrative delays. Examples from wind, battery, and grid access illustrate how regulatory hurdles are slowing deployment; the Innovation Act should explicitly address these barriers. Financing tools must also adapt to the scale-up stage, accelerating demonstration and prototyping. A budget of at least 200 billion in the next MFF (next Horizon Europe), with a dedicated earmark of 35-40% for climate and industrial decarbonization, is required to secure systemic impact. These resources must be predictable and ring-fenced, as oversubscription rates in current programs highlight both strong demand and the risk of Europe losing projects to other regions if financing gaps persist. Finally, the Innovation Act must strengthen the commercialization environment. Europes underperformance in translating research into scaled businesses is partly explained by fragmented national approaches. Stronger industry-academia collaboration, harmonized IP frameworks, and a share of public and private procurement dedicated to innovative cleantech solutions will accelerate uptake. https://fcarchitects.org/innovation/
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Meeting with Niels Fuglsang (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Sept 2025 · Energy

Response to European grid package

4 Jul 2025

The EU's upcoming Grids Package presents a pivotal opportunity to modernize, expand, and optimize Europe's electricity infrastructure. Future Cleantech Architects (FCA) welcomes the Commission's efforts and recommends a strategic shift that prioritizes not only grid expansion but also flexibility, modernization, and innovation. A resilient, efficient, and decarbonized energy system can only be achieved by embracing a holistic view of infrastructure development that puts demand-side response and new grid technologies at the center. Key recommendations: 1. Prioritize grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) to improve capacity and efficiency 2. Remunerate the flexibility service energy storage provides to the grid and develop an EU flexibility strategy 3. Incentivize the adoption of Decentralized Energy Resources to support grid stability 4. Prioritize and accelerate grid connection approvals and interconnection 5. Keep an eye on SMEs
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Response to Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act

4 Jul 2025

We welcome the European Commissions proposal for an EU Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act and see it as a critical opportunity to support deep decarbonization across Europes most challenging industrial sectors. To ensure its success, the Act must go beyond ambition and provide targeted, sector-specific support that reflects the complexity of transitioning hard-to-abate industries such as cement, aviation, and industrial heat. We recommend that the Act prioritize sectoral electrification targets, supported by robust infrastructure upgrades, cleantech deployment pathways, and financial mechanisms. Specifically, the Act should: 1. Set clear electrification targets for sectoral industry. 2. Modernize and expand grid infrastructure, providing dedicated access for industrial users and implementing an appropriate market design for energy storage. 3. Address retrofitting barriers by supporting space-efficient cleantech integration and accelerating permitting on existing industrial sites. 4. Create lead markets through mandatory green public procurement, harmonized low-carbon standards (e.g. for cement, concrete, and steel), and performance-based criteria. 5. Support Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) and non-CO mitigation measures such as contrail avoidance. 6. Scale R&D and demonstration projects, ensuring 50% of post-2027 EU innovation funding is aligned with clean transition objectives. 7. Provide clear guidance on low carbon hydrogen use, prioritizing sectors where it delivers the highest climate value. 8. Establish long-term financing tools to de-risk cleantech investments and support industrial transformation, including reform of ETS incentives and public guarantees.
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Response to Evaluation on the operation of the Innovation Fund - 2025

27 Jun 2025

The EUs Innovation Fund (IF), financed by EU ETS revenues with a total budget of 40billion through 2030, has investedbillion in over 200 large-scale clean tech demonstration projects since 2020, focusing largely on hydrogen, batteries, renewables, and CCUS in heavy industries. While this marks significant progress, several critical technology areas remain grossly underfunded: 1. Long-Duration & Thermal Energy Storage: Storage funding via the IF is overwhelmingly skewed towards short-duration (lithium-ion) battery technologies, providing day-to-day grid stability, but failing to address seasonal or multi-week renewable intermittency. Only four IF projects target thermal storage, and fewer than half a dozen tackle storage durations beyond 12 hours, a negligible fraction (<1%) of total funding. This gap undermines system resilience, making it vital for future IF calls to explicitly prioritize diverse LDES solutions (thermal, mechanical, chemical) to support grid security through all seasonal cycles. 2. Electrified High Temperature Industrial Heat: Although over 40% of IF projects address emissions from industries like cement, lime, and chemicals, garnering upward of 50% of its total funding, the vast majority revolve around CCUS and hydrogen integration. By contrast, demonstration projects for electrifying high-temperature processes (e.g., electric furnaces or steam crackers) remain rare and small-scale. Scaling up industrial heat electrification, paired with thermal storage, offers a more efficient, ready-to-deploy decarbonization pathway that avoids lock-in and resource inefficiencies. The newly introduced IF pilot auction for electric industrial heat heralds a needed shift in this direction. 3. Clean Aviation & Shipping: The IF allocates only 4% of projects and 3% of total funding to clean transport solutions. Road transport, rightly dominated by private EV deployment, is very well funded so far. However, aviation and maritime demand deeper and broader innovation and demonstration efforts across fuels, propulsion systems, retrofits, and infrastructure to ensure a truly decarbonized transport sector. Here is a link to the cleantech solutions that need to be supported by 2040: Cleantech Solutions for 2040 - Future Cleantech Architects. Key recommendations: Expand and clarify support for LDES, especially thermal, chemical, mechanical, and seasonal storage, to ensure grid resilience beyond short-term balancing. Accelerate pilot auctions and grant calls for electrified high-temperature industrial heat, fully integrating thermal storage or alternative low-carbon products, to displace CCUS-centric solutions only. Set aside dedicated IF funds for clean aviation and maritime, encompassing e-fuels, propulsion innovations, retrofits, and support infrastructure to drive transformative changes in transport. By integrating these underfunded yet pivotal technologies into its next Innovation Fund programming, the EU can close persistent decarbonization gaps, reinforcing not just climate ambition, but also economic competitiveness, energy security, and a credible pathway to net zero by 2050.
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Meeting with Miguel Jose Garcia Jones (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

10 Jun 2025 · Discussion on the climate and energy agenda

Meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe (Director-General Climate Action) and Transport and Environment (European Federation for Transport and Environment) and

13 May 2025 · Clean Industrial Deal to deliver a Joint Decarbonisation and Competitiveness Roadmap

Meeting with Andrea Wechsler (Member of the European Parliament) and Gas Infrastructure Europe and LANXESS AG

9 Apr 2025 · EU energy and industry policy

Response to Implementing Act on non-price criteria in renewable energy auctions

21 Feb 2025

Future Cleantech Architects (FCA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the consultation on non-price criteria in auctions under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). We believe that well-designed non-price criteria can drive deeper decarbonization, energy resilience, and cleantech innovation while reinforcing industrial competitiveness in Europe. To that end, we propose the following key recommendations to strengthen the Delegated Act in the attached document.
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Meeting with Andrea Wechsler (Member of the European Parliament) and TotalEnergies SE and

5 Feb 2025 · EU Energy and industry policy

Meeting with Isabella Lövin (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Feb 2025 · Clean Industrial Deal

Meeting with Pär Holmgren (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Feb 2025 · Industry and Energy policy

Meeting with Miguel Jose Garcia Jones (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

4 Feb 2025 · Presentation of Future Cleantech Architects’ Projects and exchange of views on the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal.

Meeting with Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (Member of the European Parliament) and Europacable

4 Feb 2025 · Clean Industrial Deal

Meeting with Bruno Tobback (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Feb 2025 · cleantech, energy systems, innovative renewables and industrial decarbonization

Meeting with Petra Nemeckova (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera Rodríguez), Terhi Lehtonen (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera Rodríguez)

4 Feb 2025 · Presentation of Future Cleantech Architects and discussion about energy and decarbonisation.

Meeting with Andrea Wechsler (Member of the European Parliament) and Carbon Gap ASBL and Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V.

18 Dec 2024 · EU Energy and industry policy

Response to Fitness check – energy security architecture

26 Nov 2024

EU's energy security architecture is critical as Europe seeks a sustainable, reliable energy supply. As a climate innovation think tank focused on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and cleantech, we want to stress the need to align energy security with the clean energy transition. To secure a sustainable energy future, Europe must decarbonize its energy-intensive industries under the Clean Industrial Deal, ensuring competitiveness while cutting emissions. The 2022-2023 energy crisis exposed vulnerabilities in Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels, underscoring the urgent need to reduce reliance on external energy sources and accelerate clean energy adoption. A key step in this transition is the electrification of industrial processes in sectors like aviation, cement, and chemicals, reducing their dependence on fossil fuels. Our research illustrates the potential of electric arc furnaces, high-temperature heat pumps, and other technologies to not only lower emissions but also enhance energy resilience. Complementing electrification with clean firm power sources, such as geothermal, hydropower, and concentrated solar power, will ensure a reliable energy supply, particularly when renewable resources like wind and solar are insufficient. Significant action plans and strategies for grid, solar, and wind development (Charters between institutions and industry) have been developed but now need to be implemented. The integration of energy markets and improving electricity interconnections will enhance energy security while facilitating the transition to renewable energies. To balance energy supply and demand, Europe must diversify its energy storage strategies. This includes not just batteries but longer duration energy storage, including thermal for heat, which can stabilize the grid during disruptions and support the increased electrification of industries (https://fcarchitects.org/energy-system/). Furthermore, the clean energy transition will require a significant supply of critical minerals, making it imperative for Europe to develop resilient and diversified supply chains. Investments in recycling and circular economy practices can reduce reliance on external suppliers, thus enhancing energy security. A resilient and integrated electricity grid is also vital to Europes energy security, as the current infrastructure struggles to meet the increasing demand for clean electricity. Many renewable projects are stalled due to grid bottlenecks, emphasizing the need for the EU Action Plan on Grids to prioritize new transmission lines and cross-border interconnectors. Green hydrogen is another critical component of decarbonization. Its strategic deployment is essential for hard-to-electrify sectors such as steelmaking and fuels for aviation and maritime transport. Establishing a robust green hydrogen infrastructure with sustainability standards can further reduce dependence on fossil fuels. However, given its energy intense needs, we cannot say that green hydrogen provides energy security. It must be prioritized for few specific industries: https://fcarchitects.org/content/future-cleantech-factsheet-hydrogen/. A comprehensive policy framework is crucial for ensuring long-term energy security. The proposed EU Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act presents a significant opportunity to drive decarbonization in hard-to-abate industries. The Act should set clear electrification targets, provide sector-specific roadmaps, and prioritize the modernization of Europes grid to accommodate the increasing demand for clean energy. These measures will provide a clear pathway for industrial decarbonization, offering stakeholders and investors the confidence and direction needed to accelerate progress in the years ahead. Supporting the retrofitting of industrial plants will also be vital, many facilities require engineering adaptations to accommodate cleantech. Moreover, the EU should create lead markets for low-carbon products.
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Meeting with Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Sept 2024 · Meeting with Future Cleantech Architects

Meeting with Radan Kanev (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Sept 2024 · Clean technology solutions and decarbonizing industry