Who Is Not in the Room? Why Green Chemistry Startups Need a Real Policy Seat

The same logos, the same conversation

At almost every major chemicals roundtable in Brussels or Berlin, the pattern is familiar. The large incumbents are in the room, the traditional associations are represented, and the discussion revolves around competitiveness, energy prices, regulation and industrial strategy.

What is often missing are the startups and innovation-driven SMEs building the next generation of processes and products. That absence matters because a large part of the industry’s real transformation is happening precisely there.

Cleaner reaction pathways, smarter solvents, lower-carbon API routes and more efficient production methods are not abstract ideas. They are already being developed by new companies across Europe.

Why this matters now

This is not only a question of representation. It is a question of whether industrial policy is being shaped with the right actors at the table.

The numbers are still sobering. Between 2019 and 2021, only around 0.2 percent of European venture capital went into chemistry startups, even though the sector sits at the heart of multiple industrial value chains and is directly affected by regulation, permitting and market design.

At the same time, policy decisions in Europe are becoming more consequential for these companies. Rules around critical medicines, industrial transformation, strategic technologies and sustainability standards will directly influence whether new production models can scale in Europe or are pushed elsewhere.

The policy gap in green chemistry and pharma

From IGC’s perspective, the gap is clear. Green chemistry and process innovation are repeatedly acknowledged as important, but too often they remain on the margins of industrial policy frameworks, funding instruments and regulatory reform debates.

The pharmaceutical sector shows this particularly clearly. If Europe wants to reshore API production and strengthen supply resilience, it will not be enough to support existing capacity alone. New process routes, more sustainable manufacturing models and younger production companies also need better conditions to grow.

That means faster regulatory pathways, more startup-appropriate funding criteria and industrial programmes that do not implicitly assume that only incumbents can deliver strategic capacity.

What a real seat at the table would mean

Giving green chemistry startups and innovation-driven SMEs a real policy seat is not about symbolism. It is about making industrial strategy more realistic, more future-oriented and more capable of delivering transformation in practice.

The people building safer and more sustainable processes should be able to shape the rules that determine whether those processes scale in Europe. They should also be part of the dialogue on critical medicines, raw materials, industrial resilience and climate-aligned competitiveness.

In practical terms, that means a few things.

• Including startups and innovation-driven SMEs more systematically in policy dialogues on chemicals, pharma, critical medicines and industrial transformation.

• Designing funding and industrial policy programmes so that new production actors can realistically qualify and participate.

• Accelerating regulatory and administrative pathways for sustainable process innovation, especially in areas such as APIs and other strategically relevant substances.

From consultation to industrial strategy

If Europe is serious about building a cleaner and more resilient chemical base, it cannot rely on the same voices alone. It also needs the companies that are developing the technologies, products and production models that will define the next industrial chapter.

That is why IGC argues for a real policy seat for green chemistry innovators — not as a gesture, but as a necessary condition for better industrial policy.

The transition will be decided not only by targets and announcements, but by who is involved when the rules are written.