Unlocking private finance for industrial electrification
A regional and technology-specific approach to overcoming investment barriers
Industrial electrification is essential to achieving the EU’s climate objectives and to securing long-term industrial competitiveness. Yet, current investment flows remain misaligned with this goal. Fossil-based activities continue to attract substantial funding, while electrification technologies are still underfinanced.
This report offers a practical approach to identify and address the regional and technological barriers that shape investment decisions. It categorises EU regions into five distinct profiles, based on data and research regarding the financial, technical, and institutional conditions that determine their readiness for industrial electrification.
The findings show that for each regional cluster, a tailored mix of policy interventions is needed to mobilise and redirect private finance towards industrial electrification.
The report further introduces ZOE’s Private Finance Toolbox as a method to select policy tools which correspond to investment barriers – spanning financial profitability concerns, real-world implementation constraints, and deeper-rooted challenges.
