The Challenges Europe’s Ports Face in Implementing the Clean Industrial Deal

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has identified three main challenges of Europe’s ports that need to be addressed when implementing the Clean Industrial Deal (CID) ambitions.

In February 2025, the European Union unveiled the Clean Industrial Deal, a transformational business plan outlining concrete actions to turn decarbonization into ‘a driver of growth‘ for European industries by supporting renewable energy sources. With the new plan, the EU wants to tackle three challengers at once—a climate crisis and its consequences, competitiveness concerns, and economic resilience.

Europe’s ports are said to be pillars of economic, climate and geopolitical resilience. On top of their primary role as gateways to trade, linking maritime transport with the hinterland, many ports are also hubs of energy and clusters of industry and are a catalyst in Europe’s energy, industrial and climate ambitions.

Ports are instrumental in enabling military mobility and safeguarding Europe’s energy security and supply chain sovereignty and resilience. More than ever, ports are strategic entities and enablers of Europe’s ambitions and its competitive, sustainable and resilient future. Ports in Europe will be instrumental not only in delivering on the Clean Industrial Deal but also in improving Europe’s resilience, as per ESPO.

“Boosting the clean industry in Europe implies developing the necessary supply chains that are needed to link production and consumption sites, developing port and connectivity infrastructure and adapting those to the needs of these industries. It is also important to consider the role and added value of the many ports in Europe which cluster industries or are the gateway for these industries,” Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO Secretary General, commented.

“Space, complex and lengthy permitting procedures and electricity grid congestion are just a few of the challenges to be addressed. We hope the role and corresponding needs of ports are being looked at when the Clean Industrial Deal ambitions are being further developed.”

ESPO has developed a number of recommendations related to the further implementation of the CID:

• Implementing the clean industrial deal implies investing in infrastructure in ports;
• The need for an accelerated permitting regime and sufficient space for new activities;
• The upcoming discussion on electricity grid developments needs to consider the increasing role of ports in the decarbonisation of industry and the energy transition;
• Robust funding is essential for pioneering in clean energy and clean industry projects, both for innovation and scaling up;
• Hydrogen imports need to be facilitated and rules on Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBOs) need to be relaxed during the transition phase;
• Regulatory barriers need to be addressed to enable circular economy projects in ports; and
• Measures to simplify bureaucracy and avoid overreporting should be implemented as soon as possible.

Europe’s port managing bodies welcome the ITRE Resolution, adopted on June 3, 2025. The resolution stresses the necessity of integrating climate action with industrial competitiveness.

“Europe’s ports welcome the support of MEPs for combining decarbonisation and competitiveness, the call to quickly move from strategy to action, the need to speed up the permitting processes and allow exemptions for temporary construction emissions for decarbonisation projects, the need to foster industrial ecosystems and boosting energy infrastructure,” ESPO said.

“ESPO very much welcomes the ambitions put forward in the Clean Industrial Deal, published on 26 February 2025. For ports in Europe, it is fundamental that the right conditions, both financially and non-financially, are created to enable them to truly take up their role in its implementation.”