The European Commission unveiled its ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ on Wednesday 1 February, aimed at creating the regulatory and financial conditions for the EU to take a leading role in the global clean technology race.
“We know that in the next years the shape of the net-zero economy and where it is located will be decided, and we want to be an important part of this net-zero industry”, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen when presenting the initiative to the press. It is intended to respond to the American IRA act and will be discussed at the extraordinary European Summit on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February.
In this global competition, she has not categorically rejected any public subsidy race, unlike the EU Member States considered ‘frugal’ in budgetary terms. “We are competitive and we need competition”, she said. Nevertheless, she called for a “level playing field” both internationally and within the internal market.
As stated by EUROPE (see EUROPE 13110/1), the Green Deal Industrial Plan has four main components: - the simplification of the regulatory framework; - faster and more predictable access to funding, including the granting of State aid (see EUROPE 13112/3); - strengthening professional skills; - an ambitious trade agenda (see EUROPE 13112/4).
On the first aspect, Ms von der Leyen confirmed a Net-Zero Industry Act will be put forward to stimulate European production capacities in certain sectors of activity, including by setting quantified objectives by 2030. The Commission has not developed an indicative list of the sectors concerned, considering that the scope of the future act has yet to be decided on the basis of a detailed assessment. It notes, however, that the sectors concerned could be more numerous than those that will be eligible for public support authorised by the European State aid guidelines currently under review.
A draft version of the communication published on Wednesday mentioned batteries, renewable energies (biogas, heat pumps, solar, wind and tidal energy), biofuels, carbon capture and storage technologies, ‘green’ hydrogen and heat storage.
According to Ms von der Leyen, the aim is to make the regulatory framework “simpler, faster and more predictable”, particularly in the issuing of permits to eligible productive projects. She confirmed that the Commission would present in parallel a specific strategy for critical raw materials that are essential for the EU to meet its 2050 climate objectives.
The Commission also wants to accelerate the deployment of new Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), of which there are currently five (one on semiconductors, two on batteries, two on hydrogen). This will be done through the development of a code of best practice, which will facilitate project assessments, and through the lifting of the notification exemption threshold for innovative projects carried out by SMEs in conjunction with IPCEIs.
Providing workers with the necessary skills
The President of the Commission also said that the Green Deal Industrial Plan will only be successful if the industrial sectors targeted have qualified workers.
“Nearly 30% of businesses in the manufacturing electrical equipment sector, for example, say that they face labour shortages already”, she noted.
The European institution intends to use the European Year of Skills 2023 to encourage Member States to better match the supply of training with the development of clean technologies. Among the list of initiatives it is considering is the launch in February of a skills development partnership in the renewable energy sector.
Following the guidelines to be set at the European Summit on 9-10 February, the Commission may be in a position to prepare legislation to give concrete form to the Green Deal Industrial Plan in time for the EU Spring Summit at the end of March.
See the Commission communication: https://aeur.eu/f/566 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)