On October 19, 2026, the European Commission stated that it had selected 77 net-zero technology projects that are eligible to get a total of €3.4 billion in funding by means of the EU Innovation Fund. The projects, which are located in 23 countries in the European Economic Area, encompass energy storage, renewable energy, and clean tech manufacturing, as well as industrial decarbonization projects.
The projects were chosen under the net-zero technologies call by the Innovation Fund, which was announced in December 2025. The program is funded from revenues raised by the EU Emissions Trading System – EU ETS, which reserves part of these earnings for innovative technologies that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Based on the Commission’s forecasts, the 77 initiatives could prevent the release of roughly 290 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in their first ten years of operation, helping achieve Europe’s climate neutrality goals and the creation of new industrial capacities.
Clean tech manufacturing receives almost €900 million
Clean technology manufacturing is one of the primary elements of the selection, with 12 projects qualified for around €895 million in funding.
These initiatives are plants for the production of components as well as equipment for solar photovoltaics, batteries, heat pumps, electrolyzers, and other technologies deemed strategic for the energy change.
The selected projects are SOLAR4EU in France when it comes to the manufacturing of photovoltaic technology and PowerCo Spain for the production of batteries for electric cars in Spain. Other projects are hydrogen production equipment in Italy and Belgium, battery manufacturing in Poland and Hungary, and electrical components in Croatia and Norway.
The Commission believes that the development of these industrial capabilities could assist in strengthening the European level of competitiveness and reducing technological reliance in strategic sectors.
Renewables, Energy Storage & Industrial Decarbonization
It consists of projects of varying size and development stage and is divided into 5 funding classifications.
The 12 large-scale projects have a value of approximately €1.58 billion, and a further 17 medium-scale projects are entitled to around €458 million. They are supplemented by 20 small-scale initiatives worth €124 million, 12 clean technology manufacturing projects, and 16 pilot projects totalling almost €394 million.
As far as the energy domain is concerned, the list includes proposals on electricity storage, wind, ocean energy technologies, and hydrogen as well as electrification.
Among the projects proposed by the Commission are AEGEANFLOAT, which is related to floating offshore wind technology in Greece, Talos, pertaining to energy storage and microgrids, also in Greece, and ALP-STORE, a pumped hydropower storage project located in France.
The call also covers projects for reducing emissions from energy-intensive sectors like steel, cement, and chemicals, as well as refining and projects with alternative fuels, reusing of critical raw materials, and industrial carbon management.
The list additionally calls for the first-time projects that involve small modular nuclear reactors as well as direct air carbon capture technologies.
Grant agreements to be drawn up through 2027
The Brussels announcement of the selection is a first step prior to funding agreements being confirmed. Project developers need to conclude the preparation of the grant agreement with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency – CINEA.
The Commission is expected to publish the conclusion of this process in Q1 of 2027. The fact is that just being on the selected projects list does not automatically mean that a funding contract has been signed and the project is in operation.
The call attracted 358 applications for a total of €17.5 billion, far exceeding the originally planned available budget. Apart from the selected 77 projects, another 84 proposals completed the assessment procedure but could not be funded this time because of budgetary limitations.
The European Commission plans to initiate a new Innovation Fund call in December 2026, with a specific funding window of €1 billion for the manufacturing of clean technology.
The European Union, with this new selection, wants to support the advancement of decarbonization technologies and the scaling up of the industrial capacity required to speed up the energy transition. But the realization of these investments will rely on the formalization of funding agreements and further execution of every project.