The joint statement was signed by major wind industry developers including Ørsted, Vattenfall, EDF and a host of other commercial giants including online marketplace behemoth Amazon and Swedish furniture giant Ikea.
Its text urges EU politicians to commit to the package of policies known as the European green deal, which were largely passed before the EU elections. The policies commit member states to reduce their carbon emissions, expand renewable energy capacity and promote European-based clean energy development.
“The EU green deal is the best strategy for securing Europe’s prosperity and competitiveness, providing badly needed coherence and regulatory stability to Europe’s businesses and citizens,” the text reads.
It comes in response to the recent EU elections, where centre-right and far-right parties in several key member states, including France and Germany, gained dozens of seats in the EU parliament, casting doubts on the future of green deal policies which have been met with hostility from some right-wing political parties.
The ‘green deal for Europe’ statement lays out three demands supported by the signatories, the foremost of which is to confirm the green deal “as a top priority” at the next EU strategic agenda — a five-year policy plan to be agreed on by member states for the bloc’s policy direction between 2024 and 2029.
The other demands include aligning all of the EU’s financial instruments with green deal policies, and appointing an executive vice-president for both the green deal and related industrial deal.
“We call on EU leaders to use the next five years of their mandate to act on its green deal commitments. We have 20 seasons to take our fate in our hands and advance towards a competitive, secure and democratic Europe,” the text reads.
Swedish utility Vattenfall, described its reasons for signing in further detail: “Implementing the various policies agreed on EU-level will ensure we speed up the energy transition and see concrete outcomes of EU policies at local level. A strong parliament, supporting the European Commission’s recommendation for a -90% GHG reduction by 2040 (from 1990 levels) will be crucial to keep the green deal alive by ensuring climate ambition stays on track,” a spokesperson for the company told Windpower Monthly.
Echoing the text’s support for the accompanying industrial deal platform, wind industry body WindEurope urged the EU parliament to support its main provisions for promoting European-based manufacturing and technologies.
“Europe’s wind industry is an integral part of Europe’s industrial base. And it’s key to delivering clean, competitive and reliable energy to all of Europe’s other industries. The latter are fundamental to the wind energy supply chain and to Europe’s wider prosperity…We must implement the EU green deal by complementing it with an Industrial Deal that helps Europe’s industries decarbonise through electrification,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.