On 18 June 2026, Carbon Management Europe joined 17 other organisations in signing a joint letter outlining key recommendations for an Industrial Decarbonisation Bank that can accelerate industrial decarbonisation and strengthen European competitiveness.
Coordinated by Hydrogen Europe, the letter outlines the following recommendations for the future EU Industrial Decarbonisation Bank (IDB):
Positioning the IDB as Europe's central instrument for industrial decarbonisation and market creation.
This requires a focus on supporting industrial off-takers, namely energy-intensive industries while also supporting system integration solutions. To deliver on decarbonisation objectives, the IDB should focus on commercial risks rather than technological risks and support projects that are sufficiently mature and close to a final investment decision. In this way, the IDB will unlock revenue visibility and long-term clean energy demand certainty, which suppliers need.
Ensuring fair competition across decarbonisation pathways.
The IDB should therefore structure funding calls and budget allocations according to industrial sectors and technologies to adequately reflect the varying levels of market maturity across sectors and projects, thereby helping to maintain a level playing field for technologies and off-takers.
Complementing and closely coordinating the IDB with existing EU and national instruments.
Alignment and coherence should focus on the type of support offered, eligible cost coverage, and project maturity levels, while allowing the cumulation of funding across EU instruments as well as State aid, in order to close financing gaps and leverage national co-financing. This is particularly important for emerging value chains where supply and demand must scale simultaneously and early-stage support can unlock both upstream production and downstream industrial uptake.
In this regard, a structured, staged approach between the Innovation Fund and the IDB could enable technical de-risking before transitioning to support large-scale commercial deployment. Predictability is key for the cleantech sector, and funding calls under existing instruments - such as the Innovation Fund and the European Hydrogen Bank should continue alongside the IDB. Strong operational links with the European Competitiveness Fund should also be maintained to ensure coherence with broader industrial policy objectives.
Tailoring funding and selection mechanisms to specific sectors and de-risking objectives.
Instruments such as Contracts for Difference (CfDs), and fixed premia should be deployed accordingly. Additionally, the IDB should deploy a diversified toolbox of financial instruments targeting both CAPEX and OPEX and actively incorporate blended finance and other risk-sharing mechanisms to mobilise private capital. A stronger use of blending mechanisms will enhance project finance structures and improve overall bankability. Instruments must address one of the main barriers to scaling investments: revenue uncertainty and demand risk, while also supporting the development of competitive, self-sustaining industrial value chains.
The IDB should build on existing instruments.
It should build on the experience of the Innovation Fund and the European Hydrogen Bank, in particular by encouraging mechanisms such as Auction-as-a-Service and Grant-as-a-Service. Furthermore, it should operate alongside other policy instruments, in particular, government procurement and long-term demand signals. At the same time, ensuring predictable ETS-based support for industrial decarbonisation, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors will be essential to mobilise investment and scale up the transition.