As part of the initiatives announced during the United Nations conference on Climate Change (COP26) held this week in Glasgow, Commission President von der Leyen, Bill Gates (as founder of Breakthrough Energy), and EIB President Hoyer officially announced the launch of the new EU-Catalyst Partnership.

This initiative will allow to jointly deploy up to €820 million (1 billion USD) between 2022 and 2026 to accelerate the deployment and commercialization of innovative climate-friendly technologies, consequently contributing to the objectives set by the European Green Deal and the EU Climate objectives for 2030 (particularly the ‘Fit for 55’ package). The aim is that, for each euro invested in public funding, three euros shall come from private funding. Investments will be channelled in a portfolio of projects with strong potential established in the EU and concerning 4 key sectors: clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels, direct air capture, and long-duration energy storage.

The EU-Catalyst partnership will target technologies with a recognised potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but which are currently too expensive to get to scale and compete with fossil fuel-based technologies. It will bring together the public and private sectors to invest in large-scale demonstration projects. Both the European Investment Bank (using resources provided by the European Commission) and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst will provide equivalent amounts of grants and financial investments in the projects. The latter will also mobilize partners to invest in projects and purchase resulting green products. The EU-Catalyst partnership will be open to national investments by EU Member States through InvestEU or at project level. The first projects are expected to be selected in 2022.

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