alinnea has launched the Working Group (WG) “Identifying priority measures to advance the decarbonization of industry in Spain,” with the aim of identifying opportunities and defining strategies for a just transition that combines innovation, reindustrialization, and sustainability.
Spain’s industrial base is key to competitiveness and employment, but it faces geopolitical tensions that particularly affect sectors linked to the green transition and the fight against climate change.
The Clean Industrial Deal, presented by the European Commission in February 2025, proposes to strengthen the entire industrial value chain through six pillars: affordable energy, clean product markets, financing, circularity and access to materials, global openness, and skilled labor.
This WG will examine some of these aspects in depth to identify opportunities and define strategies for a just transition that combines innovation, reindustrialization, and sustainability. To this end, it plans to analyze the state of the industrial sector in the face of the energy transition, identify levers for competitiveness and innovation, and explore opportunities in electrification and the circular economy. It also aims to develop concrete proposals to promote a sustainable and competitive transition.
Participants will meet for four working sessions between May and September 2024. The analysis will be supported by Bettina Schreck, a green industry specialist and collaborator with alinnea.
The group’s conclusions will be set out in a roadmap with specific proposals, which will be presented at the end of the dialogue sessions.
This working group is made up of representatives from across the value chain: the private sector, industry and associations, environmental organizations, trade unions, the public sector, research centers, and social organizations.
During the first meeting, an overview of the sector’s situation was provided and the main obstacles to progress in decarbonization were identified, with a particular focus on the geopolitics of decarbonization.
The dialogue allowed for the validation of issues such as policies, electricity supply, decarbonization technologies and financing, industrial scales, such as access to decarbonization technologies for medium-sized manufacturing companies; taxation and carbon credits and/or environmental assets as a dimension of financing; and technical capabilities in industries, identifying the need for skilled labor to adopt decarbonization technologies as cross-cutting issues.
In summary, there was discussion of “four key ingredients for accelerating industrial decarbonization”: technology, capital, policies, and partnerships.
In this first session, the debate included the participation of various companies from the industrial and distribution sectors (Acerinox, Amazon, CAF, Coca-Cola, Hh2site, SACYR): energy solutions and distribution companies (AESC Group, Solar Thermal Industry Association, Batteryplat, Spanish Energy Club, Enagas, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Repsol, Solarig), financial institutions (BBVA, Caixabank, Impact Bridge, OFISO, Zubi Capital), public administration (Ministry of Economy, Institute for Just Transition), trade unions (CCOO, UGT), social sector organizations (Alianza Qcero, Cleantech for Iberia, Ecodes, Ecologistas en Acción, European Climate Foundation, Fundación Renovables, SUST4IN, OIKOS) and experts from the academic and research fields (App-Mobility, IE University).
alinnea is a Think & Action Tank promoted by IE University with the support of the European Climate Foundation (ECF). Founded in 2024, it works to break down sectoral barriers in the climate transition, promoting investment solutions through dialogue between public, private, and social actors. Its interdisciplinary and collaborative approach allows it to generate realistic and impactful proposals to accelerate climate action.
If you would like to participate in the upcoming sessions of this working group, please contact alinnea at info@alinnea.org.