The regulation is designed to accelerate the industrial deployment of net-zero technologies essential for achieving the EU’s climate goals. By leveraging the strength of the single market, the act aims to reinforce Europe’s position as a global leader in industrial green technologies, the council said in a press release.
The European Council has adopted the net-zero industry act to strengthen Europe’s net-zero technology manufacturing.
The regulation simplifies permits, enhances workforce skills, and creates favourable conditions for green technology investment.
The act targets 40 per cent European Union deployment needs and 15 per cent global production by 2040.
The net-zero industry act aims to create favourable conditions for investment in green technologies by simplifying the permit-granting process for strategic projects and facilitating market access for strategic technology products, particularly in public procurement and renewable energy auctions. It also focuses on enhancing the skills of the European workforce through net-zero industry academies and high-concentration industrial areas or ‘valleys’, and creating a platform to coordinate EU efforts in the green technology sector.
To encourage innovation, the act proposes creating favourable regulatory frameworks, known as ‘regulatory sandboxes’, for developing, testing, and validating new technologies. Progress towards the act’s objectives will be measured by two indicative benchmarks: achieving a manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies that meets 40 per cent of the EU’s deployment needs, and increasing the European Union’s (EU) share of global production of these technologies to 15 per cent by 2040. Additionally, the net-zero industry act sets a target for an annual CO2 injection capacity of at least 50 million tonnes by 2030, to be achieved through geological storage sites within the EU.
Following the council’s approval of the European Parliament’s position, the legislative act has now been adopted. The next steps include the signing of the regulation by the president of the European Parliament and the president of the European Council. The regulation will then be published in the official journal of the EU and will enter into force on the day of its publication.
“The net-zero industry act is one of the foundation stones of a new industrial policy. This legal act will help Europe to lead the global race for green technologies and make sure that our contribution to the fight against climate change also reduces our dependencies, reinforces our strategic autonomy and helps us to create growth and jobs in Europe,” said Jo Brouns, minister of Flanders for economy, innovation, work, social economy and agriculture.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)