The $40 Billion Fund That’s Gambling With Europe’s Climate Goal
Through its Innovation Fund, the EU backs carbon-cutting projects it hopes to scale. At stake is whether the bloc can lower industrial emissions quickly without losing critical enterprises.
Collage: Steph Davidson, Getty (1)
A solar panel manufacturer that’s laying off workers. A battery maker that spurned Europe for American subsidies. A green hydrogen project stalled for lack of electricity.
These are a handful of the early results from the European Union’s Innovation Fund, a €40 billion ($43 billion) investment vehicle at the core of Europe’s plans to overhaul its economy to be zero-carbon by the middle of the century. It’s also part of the EU’s counter to the US Inflation Reduction Act: Officials hope the subsidies will keep key industries from decamping overseas.