The coalition, which aims to help Europe become “climate-neutral, energy-autonomous and industrially competitive”, is supported by Breakthrough Energy, a pan-industry group set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Kadri Simson, European commissioner for energy.
The Cleantech Scale-up Coalition’s aim is to usher in “a new era of climate and industrial leadership for Europe”. It is founded on the belief that Europe has developed most of the technologies it needs to get to net zero emissions but is struggling to scale them up and industrialise them.
Speaking at the coalition’s launch in Brussels, Simson said: “Europe is facing an energy crisis and the threat of climate change. The solution must be a clean energy transition. We need to rapidly scale up innovative technologies, and this new coalition of cleantech frontrunners will help us to get there.”
The coalition comprises companies whose products and services range from decarbonising industry and energy with renewable hydrogen to producing scalable low-carbon cement and from electrifying transport to recycling materials and batteries. Its founding members are:
- H2 Green Steel – producer of low-carbon steel,
- Sunfire – supplier of renewable hydrogen,
- Volta Trucks – manufacturer of fully-electric commercial vehicles,
- Plastic Energy – chemical recycling company,
- Enapter – supplier of renewable hydrogen,
- Ecocem – producer of low-clinker cement,
- Electrochaea – specialist in renewable power-to-gas, and
- Hydrovolt – battery recycling.
“This new coalition of sustainable frontrunners embodies the spirit of European entrepreneurship. If we create the conditions for their success, the EU stands to become the climate and industrial leader of the next decades.” said Ann Mettler, vice-president of Breakthrough Energy Europe.
Donal O’Riain, founder and managing director of Ecocem, commented: “Scalable, low carbon cements, which can decarbonise the European cement industry by 50% by 2030, are ready to deploy today. To do so, they need to be rapidly industrialised. This coalition, which allows Ecocem to combine forces with other world-class companies, will enable our ambition by working to remove the barriers to an accelerated decarbonisation of European, and global, industry.”
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