Green guarantees: Invest EU’s role in scaling Europe’s energy transition

In 2015, the European Commission launched a new investment vehicle aimed at attracting more than €300bn in institutional investment for EU infrastructure. The initiative, then dubbed the “Juncker Plan” after Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, proved a success. In 2021, it was rebranded as InvestEU, with a renewed goal of mobilising €372bn by 2027 to support the continent’s green transition.

The project hasn't been without its challenges. Most notably, the majority of original guarantees put aside in 2021 have already been depleted as of 2023 and deployment is to some degree held back by complex reporting requirements. But these challenges aside, the InvestEU has succeeded in attracting significant volumes of institutional capital. 

Backed by around €26bn in government guarantees, set to rise to €28bn under the latest Omnibus proposals, InvestEU has already deployed close to €100bn towards the energy transition. Its investments range from large-scale solar plants in Spain and Portugal to early-stage backing for climate technology and loans to SMEs and energy efficiency projects across Eastern Europe.

One of the decision makers shaping these commitments is Suzanne Wisse-Huiskes, an independent adviser to family offices and impact investors through the We Are Impact Collective. She shares her perspective on the types of projects InvestEU is supporting and how the programme attracts private investors to join the effort.

Bridging public and private capital

Wisse-Huiskes’ experience advising family offices gives her a valuable view of how institutional and private capital can intersect. Family offices, she says, are often among the first to back early-stage climate ventures, helping to validate opportunities that larger institutional investors may only approach later.

“It’s an extremely trust-based ecosystem,” she notes. “Most family offices don’t want to be in the spotlight, but they play a crucial role in providing the first layer of confidence for other investors to come in.”

The blended finance model

At its core, InvestEU operates on a straightforward blended finance principle. “It’s a guarantee sitting behind loans or equity provided by implementing partners,” Wisse-Huiskes explains. By underwriting some of the early-stage risk, InvestEU enables the EIB, EIF and others to share the burden, making it easier for private players to participate — a model of public risk-sharing that helps unlock private capital.

While the bulk of the implementation is executed through the European Investment Bank (EIB), national implementation partners such as local development partners play a growing role.  Beyond guarantees, InvestEU can also take direct equity stakes in the businesses it supports. 

Due to the risk-sharing mechanism, lenders are able to extend financing under more favourable conditions, often with lower interest rates, reduced collateral requirements, longer maturities, or acceptance of higher-risk clients or sectors.

Time horizons and ticket sizes

InvestEU’s commitments span a wide range of asset classes, with time horizons reflecting the nature of the investment. “Equity fund commitments are typically five to twenty years,” says Wisse-Huiskes. “Infrastructure is around fifteen. Social housing can go up to thirty. It’s patient capital.”

The fund’s contributions also vary by vehicle and structure. “The EIF typically commits between 7.5% and 25% of a fund’s total commitments,” she says. “Recent EIF cheques often fall in the €25–30m range, but tickets can be smaller—or much larger, up to around €100m in some programmes. For guarantees, it’s significantly higher, typically between €200m and €500m.”

Crowding in private investors

At least 30% of funding for any project supported by InvestEU must come from private investors in the same risk class, Wisse-Huiskes explains. For social housing, that might be commercial banks. In venture capital, pension funds and foundations are increasingly joining EIF investments.

A recent example is Blume Equity, a climate tech growth fund that attracted commitments from Swedish state pension fund AP4, alongside a €40m investment from EIF under InvestEU.

Adapting to a changing landscape

Wisse-Huiskes notes that with China now dominating solar manufacturing, Europe’s solutions will have to evolve. She also cautions that the investment committee sits at the end of the pipeline, and that even when changes occur in the market, proposals can take up to two years to reach the committee unless part of a framework operation.

She predicts that beyond the usual wind and solar, storage remains one of the toughest constraints, and that meeting 2030 targets will require massive new capacity and additional investment.

Scaling for the next stage

The proposed top-up to InvestEU’s budget will give the programme more flexibility to reinvest returns and scale up operations. “You can recycle capital, reinvest returns into new deals and better combine InvestEU with legacy instruments, without needing to go through the full approval process again,” she explains.

With the guarantee rising by nearly €3bn, Wisse-Huiskes is confident that the expanded fund will help meet growing demand. “The need in the market is high—and this helps us scale.”