The Clean Industrial Deal is described as "a bold business plan to support the competitiveness and resilience of our industry." It aims to boost production in green industries, with special focus on energy-intensive industries - vital for European material production and decarbonization goals.

6 main elements

The Deal presents measures to boost every stage of production, with a focus on energy-intensive industries (steel, metals, and chemicals, ...) and the clean tech sector. Another element of the Deal is circularity.

More specically, the Deal will be about:

• Affordable Energy: Making energy more accessible and affordable through improved grid connections, renewable power, and efficient usage
• Lead Markets: Supporting clean tech development and deployment with 40% domestic production target and public procurement initiatives
• Finance: Attracting and retaining investments for new industrial plants within Europe
• Circularity and Materials: Securing raw materials access, reducing foreign dependencies, and increasing circular material use by 25%
• Global Stage Action: Building reliable partnerships, creating clean trade agreements, and implementing trade defence mechanisms
• Skills Development: Addressing workforce skill gaps through the Union of Skills initiative

Link with Horizon Europe

The Clean Industrial Deal is strategically underpinned by Horizon Europe. Notably, the 2025 Work Programmes for Clusters 4 (Digital, Industry and Space), Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy and Mobility)  and Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment) feature targeted call topics aligned with the Deal’s objectives.

A flagship joint call in the 2026–2027 Work Programme further strengthens this alignment, introducing two non-prescriptive topics (on clean tech and on clean industrial manufacturing) designed to foster cross-sector collaboration.

The initiative adopts an industry-led, bottom-up approach focused on value chain integration and deployment readiness. A key priority is the creation of synergies with existing innovation efforts to reinforce industrial ecosystems and accelerate time-to-market for critical technologies. Emphasis is placed on advancing high-impact decarbonization solutions from Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 7 to 9, thereby building a robust pipeline of market-ready, industry-driven projects.