The European Commission has adopted the Clean Energy Investment Strategy (COM/2026/116) to help mobilise additional private investment and accelerate Europe’s energy transition.

According to the institution, delivering the transition will require €660 billion in annual investment until 2030, rising to €695 billion between 2031 and 2040. Despite the progress already made, Brussels stresses that the pace and scale of investments must increase to ensure that Europe’s economy is powered by secure, affordable and clean energy.

The strategy is based on the premise that public funding should act as a catalyst to attract private capital. By using public financing in this way, the Commission aims to de-risk projects, spread financing costs over time and attract a broader base of investors, including large-scale institutional capital.

In this context, the European Investment Bank (EIB Group) intends to deliver more than €75 billion in financing over the next three years to support the objectives of the energy transition and the new strategy.

Leveraging private capital for the energy transition

The European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen, highlighted the importance of scaling up investment to secure Europe’s energy future.

“To ensure that Europe’s economy is powered by secure, affordable and clean energy, we have to step up the pace and scale of investments. Public financing alone is not enough. We must strategically leverage private capital,” he said.

Jørgensen added that, with the support of more than €75 billion in financing from the EIB, the strategy aims to de-risk projects and attract a broader range of investors to finance clean technologies, energy efficiency and infrastructure such as electricity grids, which will underpin the clean energy transition.

For her part, the President of the EIB Group, Nadia Calviño, said the institution is supporting “an energy revolution in full swing”, through projects that lower energy bills for businesses and households, create jobs across industries and help position Europe at the forefront of the energy transition.

She also noted that clean power helps reduce Europe’s dependence on fossil fuel imports and their volatile price swings, strengthening the European Union’s energy sovereignty and independence.

Four key measures

The strategy includes four main measures to facilitate investment in the energy sector.

Improving access to capital markets for electricity grid operators, including access to equity. To achieve this, the EIB will establish a Strategic Infrastructure Investment Fund (SII Fund) with an indicative commitment of up to €500 million to provide equity to grid operators. The Commission and the EIB will also explore the possibility of creating a facility that would allow operators to securitise future revenue streams in exchange for immediate liquidity.

Supporting grid operators by strengthening banks’ capacity to lend, by increasing the use of loan securitisation and intermediated lending, particularly for smaller operators, in cooperation with the EIB.

Providing targeted public funds to de-risk innovative clean energy technologies and energy efficiency investments. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 35% of the emissions reductions required by 2050 will rely on technologies that are not yet available on the market. In response, the Commission and the EIB will increase support for the next generation of clean energy technologies and finance research into small modular nuclear reactors in Europe. This action will also strengthen energy efficiency financing through InvestEU and launch a €500 million pilot scheme to accelerate “energy efficiency as a service” models.

Establishing an Energy Transition Investment Council together with the investment community to support long-term private investment in the energy sector and ensure that public policy is aligned with investor needs. The council will be convened later this year by the Commissioner for Energy and Housing.

The Commission noted that the upcoming energy and climate framework for the next decade will further clarify the scope and nature of the investments required. Meanwhile, the EU’s long-term budget for 2028–2034 and national support schemes will act as additional strategic tools to de-risk projects, reduce financing costs and ensure that public funds amplify, rather than replace, private investment in the energy transition.