Clean Industrial Transition Monitor
The transition to a clean and competitive industrial base is crucial to strengthening Europe’s resilience and strategic economic independence. While progress is visible across several key enabling conditions, the transition remains uneven. Key challenges include weak demand for clean products and materials, infrastructure bottlenecks, limited financing, and difficulties in diversifying the supply of critical raw materials.
The Clean Industrial Deal already provides a broad and comprehensive policy framework. But its impact will depend on how quickly, coherently and effectively its more than 80 initiatives are implemented.
Objectives
The Clean Industrial Transition Monitor, published by the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO), assesses real-world progress using more than 50 indicators. It provides a comprehensive and nuanced picture of both progress and remaining gaps across the key dimensions of industrial transformation in Europe.
I4CE contributes to this work alongside partner organisations from across Europe, including Ecologic Institute, NewClimate Institute, and Reform Institute.
Key findings
Demand, carbon pricing and key policy levers
A notable shift in the policy landscape is the growing focus on demand-side measures. Initiatives such as the Industrial Accelerator Act and the Public Procurement Act aim to create lead markets for clean technologies and materials. At the core of the transition remains the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which helps internalise the cost gap between fossil-based and low-carbon production while generating revenues for industrial decarbonisation.
Financing, resilience and the global dimension
Ensuring sufficient and sustained financing will be key to maintaining momentum. Accelerating electrification and renewable energy deployment will also strengthen Europe’s economic resilience by reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. The success of the transition will equally depend on its global dimension: maintaining a clear and consistent policy direction and building strategic partnerships will allow the EU to actively shape emerging global markets for clean industrial products.
Quarterly Bulletins
To track ongoing developments, ECNO publishes quarterly bulletins monitoring key economic indicators and policy developments under the Clean Industrial Deal. I4CE contributes to each edition.
Quarterly Bulletin 01/2026
Aneta Stefańczyk, Elena Schneider, Corinna Fürst, Aleksander Śniegocki, Ciarán Humphreys, Matthias Duwe
As policymakers respond to the economic impacts of recent fossil fuel market disruptions, critical decisions are also being made on the future direction of the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal. The first edition of the quarterly bulletin tracks developments in important economic indicators relevant to EU industry and monitors key policy developments.
Key messages:
- Shock absorption improved: Reduction in fossil fuel demand helped curb spending on imported fossil fuels during the Strait of Hormuz crisis compared to the 2022 energy crisis
- Clean power pays off: In early 2026, Spain’s electricity-to-gas price ratio was more than twice as favourable as that of more fossil-fuel-reliant countries such as Italy and Poland
- The power of carbon pricing: ETS review enters a critical political phase
- Making the (business) case: IAA negotiations will determine the strength of demand-side industrial policy
Further quarterly bulletins will be added as they are published.
