A credible transition programme typically requires EUR 20 to 200 million in capex over five to seven years. The European public funding architecture, three layers (European, national, regional) combined with four instrument types, has been designed to close the gap between what conventional finance can provide and what the transition actually costs. On a well-structured project, the stack contributes 30 to 50% of total eligible investment. Direct grants and tax credits alone cover EUR 29.3 million of a EUR 65 million reference project; add concessional debt from promotional banks and total public-leveraged capital reaches 88% of project cost.
Operators as different as Avantium in bio-based chemistry, Salzgitter in steel through its SALCOS programme, and Holcim in low-carbon cement have closed their capex stacks this way, by assembling instruments across layers rather than relying on any single source.
This paper sets out how that architecture works, illustrates the stacking logic on a concrete worked example in the Netherlands-Germany corridor, and gives each of the four functions of finance, technology, sustainability, and innovation a concrete 90-day starting point.