RPE in the EU: Amplifying genuine business voices in Europe
Andrew Prag, Managing Director of Policy, We Mean Business Coalition, and Ursula Woodburn, Director, CLG Europe
The companies investing in Europe’s clean transition are being drowned out by those most invested in the status quo. New guidance from We Mean Business Coalition and CLG Europe makes the case for changing that – and offers a practical blueprint for how to do so.
Forward-looking European business leaders have long engaged constructively with EU policymakers, helping build the political consensus for ambitious climate targets and the policies needed to deliver them. This engagement will continue to be an essential component of winning back global leadership as the world rapidly shifts towards clean, electrified energy systems.
That constructive voice is needed now more than ever. As the EU navigates a shifting geopolitical and economic landscape, climate and industrial policy face growing political pressure and increasingly loud, but inflated, calls to weaken regulation.
We Mean Business Coalition and Corporate Leaders Group Europe have recently published Responsible Policy Engagement in the EU, offering guidance for companies, trade associations and policymakers. It sets out what leading companies – from Holcim and Maersk to Unilever and Fortum – are already doing to align their advocacy with their climate transition plans and what policymakers can do to can do to make responsible corporate engagement the norm.
The need to meet the moment
Europe is facing intensifying systemic shocks, from fossil fuel prices to competitive displacement and growing climate and nature risks. At the same time, the region’s position in the emerging clean economy is at a crossroads.
Today, legacy business interests are shaping the political narrative. But many European business leaders see the clean industrial and energy transition as a chance to boost innovation and competitiveness, as well as to avoid exposure to risk. For example, companies that have moved early on electrification and clean power are already seeing the results, including structurally lower energy costs and greater resilience in the face of fossil fuel price shocks.
Electric vehicles, heat pumps and electrified industrial processes use two to five times less energy to deliver the same output as their fossil fuel equivalents. Electricity itself is also becoming cleaner and cheaper thanks to the rapid growth of renewable energy, with solar and wind power now among the cheapest sources of new energy generation in many parts of the world. This all translates directly into lower operating costs for businesses that have made the switch. And because electrified systems run on domestic clean power rather than imported fossil fuels, they convert geopolitical exposure into resilience.
Who speaks for European business?
Yet the key European industry and energy policies that can accelerate this transition are facing sustained pressure. Well-funded actors – often linked to fossil fuel interests – are challenging progress on the clean economy, openly and through back channels. They claim to represent European business as a whole. Companies who disagree need to speak up more loudly and more consistently.
The business voice for the transition is alive and well. We heard it loud and clear in March this year as nearly 150 companies and investors stepped forward to defend the EU’s Emissions Trading System.
But this important voice needs to be more pronounced in the rooms where decisions are made. It is currently being drowned out by legacy incumbents, who play a dominant role in the most vocal trade associations, and tend to have the ear of policymakers. This imbalance has implications far beyond these forward-looking companies: if governments fail to create the conditions for transition, it will ultimately cost every sector and harm Europe’s long-term resilience, investment and strategic autonomy, as other countries cement their leadership.
You don’t change the rules of the game, in the middle of the game
The current pushback on core elements of the EU’s climate and energy frameworks bears real risk. Businesses rely on regulatory predictability and economy-wide action to incentivize market-wide investment and scaling. Undermining that confidence and predictability now punishes the very companies that have invested heavily in leading Europe’s transition to a clean economy. In recent discussions with first movers, a refrain has emerged: “You don’t change the rules of the game, in the middle of the game.”
2025 served as a cautionary tale, and a costly one. Incumbents successfully used coordinated pressure campaigns to roll back corporate sustainability standards, among other efforts. 2026 has revealed efforts to sow doubt about the value and role of the EU carbon price. As we look further afield, critical policy files are imminently coming up for debate. Without a more concerted, coordinated response from companies that support the transition, the same playbook will be run again.
Building a powerful coalition of positive actors
What this moment demands is a well-organized and effectively mobilized coalition of the willing: companies ready to use their voice and ensure that the organizations speaking on their behalf reflect where they actually stand. We Mean Business Coalition and CLG Europe are here to help build it. By bringing together knowledge and networks, we’re turning isolated efforts into coordinated, credible engagement. And forward-looking companies have a clear incentive to be heard: the question whether to help shape or be shaped by future policies and markets.
This new guidance sets out what leading companies are already doing – and how others can crowd in. The signal is there. It just needs to be louder.