With the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), the European Commission has pledged to finally get real about a common clean industrial policy. This would be a first. Previous attempts resulted in an industrial policy in name only. In practice, they suffered from a lack of sectoral focus, poor coordination across policy fields, and insufficient financial backing. New data from 280,000 state aid awards shows that of the €353 billion granted on the supply side since 2019, only 12% targeted sectors the EU identified as strategically important. To move beyond half-measures, the CID should now act fast and pragmatically on three fronts: First, it should clearly define what specific sectors to support and why. Second, rather than waiting for new coordination frameworks, it should deploy existing EU tools—such as trade policy, procurement rules, and regulation—to develop sector-specific strategies. And third, as our new data indicates that fragmentation risks in clean industries remain limited, it should make full use of state aid instruments to direct national subsidies toward priority industries.