Europe's energy transition has reached a decisive new stage — it is broader, faster and more resilient than ever before. What once seemed impossible, such as an irreversible break with Russian gas, is now one of Europe's greatest strategic achievements.
In 2025 alone, investment in the European Union's clean energy transformation reached a record high of almost 400 billion euros. The market value of Europe's renewable energy companies rose by more than 50% in a single year, demonstrating investors' strong confidence in technologies developed and deployed in Europe.
Yet Europe's transition does not rest on megaprojects or eye-catching infrastructure alone. The wind turbines rising from the Baltic Sea and the new interconnectors across the continent reflect only part of the overall picture
Energy security
To reap the full benefits of a fully integrated system and to reduce energy costs for Europe's businesses and citizens, it is essential to remove the remaining bottlenecks in the energy sector. But energy generation alone will not secure Europe's competitiveness. Improving interconnection and system flexibility — for example, pairing energy generation with energy storage — are crucial measures.
At the same time, supporting the green transition and affordable renewable energy for European businesses involves strategic choices and trade-offs bound up with economic security. European companies face wide-ranging external strategic dependencies, from critical raw materials to advanced technologies and components.
Europe's clean technology sector is a case in point. Although it already accounts for almost a third of the European Union's GDP growth, it also carries dependencies that vary from one sector to another. While these are relatively low in wind energy, they remain very high in battery and solar manufacturing, raising concerns about cybersecurity as well as strategic dependency. Resolving this trade-off calls for urgent and well-coordinated action at national and EU level to manage the shift towards greater diversification.
Energy efficiency is a strategic advantage for Europe
Energy efficiency remains one of Europe's most powerful and still underrated instruments for making climate and competitiveness a successful pairing. It is not simply a technical fix; it is a strategic necessity that involves no trade-offs, and Europe's most immediate competitiveness tool.
Energy efficiency cuts costs, cuts emissions and improves resilience. As the saying goes, the most secure, the cheapest and the cleanest energy is the energy we do not consume.
Europe is proving this through results, achieving more with fewer resources. Since 1990 the European Union has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 37% while growing its economy by 71%. This is no coincidence but the result of a transformation: Europe is becoming more efficient by adopting modern technologies and smarter industrial processes.
At the same time, Europe's transition to a green economy will only succeed if small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remain at its heart. SMEs, which make up 99% of all European businesses and provide two thirds of private sector employment, are essential to competitiveness, innovation and social cohesion.
If Europe wants to maintain its leading position in clean technology and strengthen the resilience of its economy, small and medium-sized enterprises must be given access to the funding, the tools and the flexibility they need to modernise.
That is why the next stage of Europe's clean energy transition is aimed squarely at them.
Attracting investment into the real economy
Last year the EIB Group, with the support of the European Commission and in partnership with Bertrand Piccard's Solar Impulse Foundation, launched the Energy Efficiency Initiative for SMEs. The programme aims to provide 17.5 billion euros of financing by 2027, reaching up to 350,000 SMEs.
The momentum is already strong. In 2025 alone, 6 billion euros reached as many as 150,000 small and medium-sized enterprises — twice as much as in the previous year. Across Europe, companies are installing modern heating systems, adopting smart manufacturing technologies, reducing energy losses and strengthening their competitiveness in an increasingly demanding global market.
A new partnership to accelerate the impact
The EIB is now stepping up its support, committing 100 million euros to a new Eiffel Investment Group facility designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of energy efficiency. This initiative will help companies to cut their energy costs, accelerate decarbonisation and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
Together we will use this financing to roll out modern energy-saving technologies where they are needed most: in the factories, warehouses, workshops and offices that are the bedrock of Europe's economic life.v
With the EIB as its anchor investor, the programme aims to raise 1.2 billion euros by 2030, including from private capital. The focus will be on SMEs in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
This is not simply another investment instrument. It is proof that Europe can align public and private capital to strengthen sovereignty, competitiveness and climate leadership at the same time.
A breakthrough: energy efficiency as a service
One of the most transformative features of the partnership is its support for energy efficiency as a service. Instead of buying equipment — an expensive and sometimes risky decision — small and medium-sized enterprises can buy guaranteed energy savings. They benefit immediately from lower bills and reduced emissions, without any upfront investment or exposure to technological risk.
This service model allows small and medium-sized enterprises to install high-performance heat pumps, advanced optimisation tools and other innovative solutions while keeping their balance sheets sound. It removes the long-standing barriers that have so far prevented many companies from replacing outdated systems.
Europe is now innovating not only in technology, but also in the business models needed to deploy it widely. And it places small and medium-sized enterprises exactly where they belong: at the heart of the green energy transition.
Let us seize this goal and make energy efficiency the foundation of a sustainable and competitive future for all.
This article was originally published in Les Echos on 2 March 2026.