Europe’s food industry faces growing pressure to reduce energy consumption, improve sustainability and strengthen resilience across increasingly complex supply chains. From food processing and manufacturing to logistics and storage, the sector remains highly energy-intensive while also confronting rising energy costs, climate targets and changing market expectations. EENOVA addresses this challenge by supporting collaborative energy efficiency action across food value chains, helping companies identify practical opportunities for decarbonisation and operational improvement.
Rather than focusing only on individual facilities, EENOVA promotes a value-chain approach that connects businesses, stakeholders and industrial actors across the food ecosystem. The project aims to demonstrate how cooperation, shared knowledge and coordinated action can unlock larger and more scalable energy efficiency improvements throughout the sector.
What is EENOVA about?
EENOVA focuses on improving energy efficiency and sustainability within Europe’s food manufacturing and food value chains.
The project supports companies in identifying practical pathways to reduce energy consumption while improving operational performance and long-term competitiveness. By analysing energy use across interconnected supply chains rather than isolated operations, EENOVA helps stakeholders better understand where collaborative action can create the greatest impact.
A central aspect of the project is stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange. EENOVA organises collaborative activities, roundtables and networking initiatives that bring together companies, experts and industrial actors from across the food sector. These activities help identify shared challenges, exchange best practices and accelerate the implementation of effective energy efficiency measures.
The project also works to improve awareness of energy transition opportunities within the food industry. Many organisations still struggle to prioritise energy efficiency investments due to fragmented information, limited technical capacity or uncertainty around implementation. EENOVA addresses these barriers by providing practical guidance, supporting replication activities and promoting scalable approaches tailored to the realities of food manufacturing value chains.
Beyond direct implementation activities, the project contributes to broader discussions on industrial decarbonisation and sustainable food production in Europe. By promoting cooperation across supply chains, EENOVA helps strengthen the sector’s ability to respond to climate, energy and competitiveness challenges simultaneously.
Why EENOVA matters
The food industry is one of Europe’s most important industrial sectors, yet it remains heavily dependent on energy-intensive processes across production, storage and distribution activities. Improving energy efficiency within food value chains is therefore essential for reducing emissions, strengthening resilience and supporting Europe’s clean industrial transition.
EENOVA contributes to this transition by demonstrating how collaborative approaches can generate broader and more lasting impact than isolated company-level interventions. Through stakeholder cooperation, practical implementation support and value-chain coordination, the project helps create more sustainable and energy-efficient food production systems across Europe.
By accelerating energy efficiency action throughout the food sector, EENOVA supports both industrial competitiveness and Europe’s wider climate and sustainability objectives.
This project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101119476.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
