As funding increasingly shifts toward defense and artificial intelligence, Europe cannot afford to sideline cleantech. The transition to a decarbonized and competitive economy is not just an environmental imperative—it is a matter of industrial sovereignty, economic resilience, and strategic leadership.
Beyond Trends, an Absolute Necessity
Over the past year, capital has flowed massively into two sectors considered top priorities: AI and defense. While both are essential to Europe’s place in the emerging geopolitical and technological order, they must not eclipse another strategic pillar: cleantech. Ensuring access to clean, competitive energy and developing low-carbon industries is just as crucial as achieving military and technological independence.
Yet the latest Cleantech France Invest Barometer paints a concerning picture: in 2024, equity investment in cleantech fell by 24%, while debt financing surged to €23 billion, indicating a shift toward the industrialization of already mature technologies. Meanwhile, the U.S. and China continue to inject massive capital into energy infrastructure and strategic industries.
If this trend continues, Europe risks falling behind and allowing others to capture the value generated by the energy transition.
A Sovereignty Issue—Not Just a Climate One
Investing in cleantech is not merely a matter of corporate or governmental environmental responsibility. It is an industrial and economic imperative. Without strong support for innovation and deployment of low-carbon solutions, Europe will struggle to meet its competitiveness and strategic autonomy goals.
The EU has set bold targets: producing 10 million tons of green hydrogen by 2030, accelerating battery gigafactory development, and weaning heavy industry off fossil fuels. But these objectives remain largely underfunded and risk being deprioritized as capital is reallocated elsewhere.
In contrast, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and China’s industrial strategies offer far more attractive investment conditions, drawing talent and capital. Without a rapid response, Europe may fall behind not only on decarbonization but also on energy and industrial sovereignty.
Cleantech: A Cornerstone of Europe’s Industrial Competitiveness
It would be a mistake to pit cleantech funding against investment in AI and defense. These sectors are not mutually exclusive—they are interdependent and strategic for European sovereignty. AI plays a critical role in energy optimization and industrial innovation, while strong energy independence is a prerequisite for any credible military or technological ambition.
However, amid the growing appeal of AI and defense, cleantech risks becoming the blind spot of capital reallocation, weakening a core pillar of Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
Rather than concentrating investment in a single domain, Europe needs a balanced approach—one that accelerates cleantech investment, amplifies the impact of public-private co-investment, and channels significant capital into industrialization. To meet its climate and industrial goals by 2050, Europe will need to mobilize €38 trillion in private investment.
A demand-side shock is also essential, echoing the market-shaping strategies used in AI and defense, to align public and private funding and create large-scale incentive mechanisms. Ultimately, energy competitiveness will be decisive: no industrial reshoring or sustainable transition will succeed without stable, affordable energy, backed by a robust mix of renewables, nuclear, and the right infrastructure.
As Europe prepares for discussions around the Clean Industrial Deal, it must send a strong signal to investors and entrepreneurs. The technologies exist. The ambitions are clear. But without a bold strategic direction, cleantech risks remaining underfunded. Energy independence and industrial competitiveness must not be an afterthought. It is imperative that policymakers and investors build a coherent investment strategy—one that truly rises to the challenges of tomorrow’s world.
Supernova Invest and Crédit Agricole create a fund specializing in agri-agro Tech
Supernova Invest and the Crédit Agricole Group, the world’s leading bank for agriculture, announced the launch of an innovation capital fund dedicated to agri-agro tech, with a first closing at €60 million, out of a target size of €100 million. Crédit Agricole, via the Regional Banks and Crédit Agricole S.A., has made this first fundraising possible. It will be open to third-party investors (industrialists, institutional investors) to support French and European agricultural and agrifood technology champions.
Supporting the transition of French agri-agro sectors
The fund was born of a shared ambition between Supernova Invest, already an investor in a dozen agri-agro tech companies, and Crédit Agricole, the bank of more than 8 out of 10 farmers in France. Committed to a Social Project that aims to “accompany the evolution of techniques towards a competitive and sustainable agri-food system”, Crédit Agricole’s ambition is to support the growth of the most promising start-ups, thanks to the innovation that is necessary for the transition of the sector’s industries on a local, national and European scale.
The fund is also a response to the fact that agri-agro tech is made up of multiple technology building blocks (biotech, hardware, artificial intelligence, etc.), whose success requires the expertise in diverse technological and sectoral skills, as well as strong knowledge in complex product development roadmaps.
The fund will focus on French and European start-ups that will bring the best technological solutions to the agri-agro industry, to maintain their competitiveness and speed up their industrial transformation towards greater sustainability.
The agri-agro start-ups targeted will have to meet the 5 strategic pillars of agri-agro transitions defined by Crédit Agricole:
- Promoting the attractiveness of the farming profession
- Transition to a low-carbon diet
- Preserving natural resources
- Changing eating habits
- Production through the circular economy.
Territories, impact and international
The first thematic fund of Supernova Invest will invest on a lead/co-lead basis and target a maximum of twenty participations, with initial investments from €2 to €4 million, including the capacity to reinvest in adds-on.
Aligned with the territorial reach of Supernova Invest’s portfolio start-ups, over 60% of which are based in the French regions, the fund’s mission will be to support high-impact start-ups (an Impact Committee will be set up), and will also have a pan-European approach, with the aim of connecting French farmers, cooperatives, and agri-food manufacturers to the continent’s best deeptech innovations. Investments will thus be used to finance transformative R&D projects (biocontrol, precision agriculture, green chemistry, robotics, etc.), industrial scale-up and commercial deployment, in highly growth start-ups with the potential to become European and global leaders.
Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven, Chairman of Supernova Invest, commented: “Supernova Invest is expanding its development momentum and investment capacity with this agri-agro tech thematic fund, a deep sector that we know, with strong potential. The dealflow is highly qualified in Europe, and even more so in France, with a pool of start-ups that have already achieved various technological and industrial milestones, giving them strong positions worldwide. This fund further establishes Supernova Invest as a leading deeptech investor. Crédit Agricole’s support has been essential, and we invite interested investors to join us in the great agri-agro tech revolution underway.”
Jean-Pierre Touzet, Head of Agri-Agro – Guarantee – Capital Development at Crédit Agricole S.A said: “Thanks to this fund, Crédit Agricole will be able to step up its support for the technologies of tomorrow, enabling the agri & agro sectors to evolve towards sustainable and resilient systems. The aim is to position the Crédit Agricole Group as a trailblazer and shaper of the future in agricultural and agri-food transitions. Our subscription to this fund is fully in line with our Corporate Project and the “Ambition Agri Agro” range of financing and investment instruments we are building.”
At a time when the agricultural and agri-food sectors are facing ever-increasing structural demands (decarbonization, sustainability, combating climate change, productivity, competitiveness), technological and industrial innovation is providing a response that is enabling many sectors to adapt and evolve accordingly. As the second country in Europe and fourth in the world in terms of agri-agro tech start-ups, France has seen a significant increase in investment over the past few years and can count on high-impact start-ups that are helping to strengthen France’s leading industry in terms of jobs, revenues and exports.
