Green Forum • 3 December, 2024 at 7:45 AM
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced a new partnership to support investments in the EU's battery manufacturing sector.
This partnership will see a €200 million top-up (loan guarantee) to the InvestEU programme from the EU Innovation Fund. It comes in addition to €1 billion in grants to support electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing projects via the Innovation Fund, also announced today. As part of the new partnership, the EIB envisages investing a further €1.8 billion in the wider battery value chain. These joint efforts will result in €3 billion of public support in total for the development of a competitive and sustainable European battery industry.
The €200 million InvestEU guarantee top-up by the Innovation Fund will be directed to support innovative projects along the European battery manufacturing value chain to address financing challenges by enabling additional EIB venture debt operations over the next three years. In particular, the venture debt operations will:
help companies to bridge the gap between the research and development phase and large-scale commercial deployment;
reduce market failures;
leverage public funding to mobilise private investment;
contribute to the establishment of innovative and resilient supply chains for energy storage in Europe.
Support will be directed to a wide range of battery technologies, such as developing advanced materials, components manufacturing, or innovative recycling techniques. Funding prioritises technological innovations beyond basic cell or pack assembly and excludes mining and extraction activities. The EIB will conduct a periodic application process to evaluate whether an operation is eligible under the defined top-up criteria, as well as the project's commercial and technical viability. Interested applicants can find more information on the EIB Venture debt webpage and apply through the EIB MyRequests portal.
The EIB supports the wider battery value chain, including raw materials, research, production, charging infrastructure, and recycling. Over the past six years, the Bank has provided €6 billion of financing and aims to invest a further €1.8 billion. The Innovation Fund's €1 billion Battery call and the €200 million InvestEU guarantee top-up[ comes in response to the appeal made on 6 December 2023 by the previous Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič to bolster the EU's battery manufacturing industry by allocating up to €3 billion in support to the sector. This initiative aims to incentivise investment and make the European battery industry cleaner and more competitive.
Together, the InvestEU top-up, the EIB's own-resource investments, and today's launch of a new €1 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery-focused call for proposals from the Innovation Fund highlight the commitment of the European Commission to make the batteries manufacturing value chain more resilient and more competitive. The new partnership that the Commission and the EIB announced today also underscores the EU's commitment to implement a circular economy and lower the environmental impact of batteries, an indispensable energy storage technology. Strengthening the continent's battery value chain, manufacturing capabilities, and recycling processes will help support the objectives outlined in the EU Green Deal, the EU Batteries regulation, and the Net-Zero Industry Act.