The International Energy Agency (2021) has estimated that “…almost half of the emissions savings needed in 2050 to reach net-zero emissions rely on technologies that are not yet commercially available”. In this coffee hour, 4i-TRACTION team members from VUB and Wageningen University presented a new report by the 4i-TRACTION project on what options exist for developing EU innovation funding in line with the challenge of climate neutrality. They discussed four important issues relating to the provision of public Research & Development (R&D) funding for climate change mitigation innovation. First, they revisited the question of which level of government – EU, the member states, or regional governments – is best placed to provide this funding. Second, they estimated the need for public R&D funding within the European Union using existing Integrated Assessment Model estimates. Additionally, they mapped the existing EU innovation funding landscape and finally explored the ways in which this landscape might evolve under four policy avenues for climate neutrality. Lastly, a project team member from I4CE’s who has recently published ideas for sharpening the EU Innovation Fund presented ideas to start off the discussion with the participants from the Community of Experts.