The Clean Industrial Deal, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the future of green industrial policy

Venue: Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels

Throughout the last years, green industrial policy took centre stage in climate and economic debates. The European Green Deal (CID) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) marked comprehensive strategies to achieve advance economic and sustainability objectives through industrial policy. However, today the European Green Deal is under threat, and the IRA is being dismantled by the new US administration. The political landscape for green industrial policy has changed, and the future of green industrial policy is unclear.

This conference by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's EU | Global Dialogue and Washington, DC offices explores how such a future may be shaped. Analysing the successes and failures of green industrial policies. How can effective instruments be safeguarded in this changing context? What can be learned from the rollbacks of industrial policies in the US and the EU? And how can we develop strategies, coalitions and tools to progressively further a green industrial policy that addresses the shortfalls of today’s business-as-usual push?

Throughout several workshops, we invite you to share your experiences, explore lessons learned on either side of the Atlantic, and develop strategies to future-proof green industrial policy. Throughout the day, we will look at the development and dismantling of the IRA as well as the hollowing out of the European Green Deal, the coalitions that gave and continue to give green industrial policy a voice, address geopolitical challenges and transatlantic cooperation, to develop ideas how tomorrow's green industrial policy could unfold.

Programme

10:00-10:30   Arrival & Coffee
10:30-10:45   Welcome by Roderick Kefferpütz, Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue
10:45-11:00   Setting the stage by Philippe Lamberts, Advisor for the European Green Deal, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (Confirmed)
11:00-12:30   Workshop parallel sessions (see descriptions below):

I. Two steps forward, one giant leap back: tracking what remains of the IRA and European Green Deal, with:
· Elisabetta Cornago, Assistant Director, Centre for European Reform
· Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Senior Director, Domestic Climate and Energy Policy, Center for American Progress
· Max Gruenig, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G

II. Navigating national contexts to forge industrial-climate policy coalitions, with:
· Martin Kaul, Managing Director, Green Business Association | Grüne Wirtschaftsvereinigung
· Clement Nocos, Director of Policy and Engagement, Broadbent Institute
· Mike Williams, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
· Lina Ohltmann, Trade Union Secretary, IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie | DGB (invited) 

12:30-14:00   Lunch Break
14:00-15:30   Workshop parallel sessions (see descriptions below):

III. A new geoeconomics, with:
· Max Paleschke, Senior Economist, Dezernat Zukunft
· Shuting Pomerleau, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy, American Action Forum
· Pierre Leturcq, Indepentent Researcher

IV: Building a progressive transatlantic coalition at the climate-industrial policy nexus, with:
·Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Democrats
·Michael Bloss MEP, Greens/EFA

15:30-16:00   Coffee break
16:00-17:30   Panel debate with speakers TBA
 

Places are limited, please register here before 8 October 2025.

More more information, please contact Anton Möller.

Check out our dossiers on industrial policy and on the Clean Industrial Deal.

Parallel sessions:

I. Two steps forward, one giant leap back: tracking what remains of the IRA and European Green Deal

This session takes stock of the evolving state of climate-industrial policy on both sides of the Atlantic in the wake of shifting political landscapes in Brussels and Washington, D.C. With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) facing full-throated repeal and the European Green Deal undergoing recalibration following electoral gains by far right parties, the session asks: what remains of these flagship policy frameworks, and what comes next?

Panellists with expertise in transatlantic policy, governance, and advocacy assess which elements of the IRA and the Green Deal are holding firm, which are being quietly dismantled, and which may yet be repurposed or revived. The discussion will explore the policy mechanisms and instruments that have proven resilient—such as subsidies, procurement rules, or emissions standards—and seek to understand why they endure amid political and institutional change. Attention will also be given to the role of institutional actors, subnational governments, civil society, and market forces in shaping the next phase of climate and industrial transformation. Rather than taking a retrospective stance, the session aims to generate forward-looking insights into what policy tools, coalitions, and political strategies can sustain ambition in an era of uncertainty.

II. Navigating national contexts to forge industrial-climate policy coalitions

This session examines how political coalitions in Canada, the United States, and the European Union came together to pass and begin implementing ambitious, climate-centred industrial policies. Individuals and organizations directly involved in these efforts will share how they built broad alliances across labour, industry, environmental organizations, and government to support a shared agenda for economic transformation and climate action. They will highlight the strategies and partnerships that helped mobilize support by linking public investment, regional development goals, labour standards, and direct benefits to local communities.

The session also considers how integrated principles of environmental justice help ensure that communities most at risk of being left behind in the clean energy shift gain access to new economic opportunities. We will explore how combining industrial and climate policy created common ground across political and ideological divides. In addition to sharing successes, speakers will address the challenges they faced—where coalitions held strong, where they fractured, and what lessons they learned. The session offers a space for open, experience-based dialogue on what it takes to build and sustain inclusive coalitions that can deliver bold, justice-centred climate-industrial policy in politically polarized environments. Participants will leave with concrete insights into strategies that work—and those that require rethinking.

III. A new geoeconomics

This session explores how green, values-driven energy and climate policies can remain relevant and influential within an emerging geo-economic order marked by heightened competition, industrial nationalism, and deepening tensions between China and the transatlantic alliance. As the global economy reorients around strategic sectors—clean energy, critical minerals, and advanced technologies—climate and industrial policy are increasingly shaped by geopolitical considerations. Amid concerns about economic security and technological dominance, transatlantic cooperation faces new constraints, while the urgency of the green transition remains unchanged.

Trade policy experts from both sides of the Atlantic will examine how energy and climate policy can continue to serve as areas of constructive alignment between the EU and the U.S., even within a fragmented global trade landscape. Panellists will explore how tools such as carbon border adjustments, green subsidies, supply chain agreements, and cooperative standards-setting can reinforce shared environmental and economic goals. The session will also consider how to balance national industrial priorities with international norms, and how to avoid green protectionism that undermines climate ambition. By unpacking the trade-offs and opportunities within the current geo-economic regime, this session will offer forward-looking insights on how to sustain the green transition through strategic, rules-based, and values-driven transatlantic economic and trade cooperation.

IV: Building a progressive transatlantic coalition at the climate-industrial policy nexus

This workshop session looks at the potential for climate and industrial policy to function as foundational instruments for constructing durable transatlantic coalitions capable of advancing competitiveness, decarbonization, and distributive equity—despite mounting political headwinds in the European Union, United States, and Canada. Amid increasing backlash against climate and just transition agendas, the session examines how shared normative commitments—such as labour rights (including recognition of the care economy), human rights, and ecological integrity—can serve as anchoring principles for coordinated policy action. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of industrial strategy in driving productive investment, fortifying supply chain resilience, and embedding social objectives within economic policy frameworks.

The session opens with a panel discussion featuring policymakers, civil society leaders, and movement actors, drawing on lessons from key policy interventions such as the Inflation Reduction Act, the European Green Deal, and the emerging Clean Industrial Deal. Panellists will consider how climate-industrial integration can operationalize shared standards, mitigate regulatory fragmentation, and reorient transatlantic economic relations toward long-term sustainability. The session will further explore how policy regimes, if aligned with climate and equity imperatives, may act as levers for broader political coalition-building. A facilitated dialogue will follow, fostering cross-sectoral exchange on pathways for institutional and policy innovation.