The European Commission recently presented its Clean Industrial Deal, a plan to support the competitiveness and resilience of the EU industry, and accelerate decarbonisation. The deal focuses on energy-intensive industries and clean tech, with different business drivers for success having been identified, with a set of key actions outlined to support these drivers.
The Commission adopted an action plan on affordable energy that aims to lower energy bills for industries, speeding up the roll-out of clean energy. This plan is based on four pillars: (1) lowering energy costs for all, (2) completing the Energy Union, (3) attracting investments and ensuring delivery, and (4) being ready for potential energy crises. The plan is composed of eight actions, offering concrete short-term and structural measures to improve competitivity, affordability, security and sustainability. The eight actions are as follows:
- Making electricity bills more affordable
- Bring down the cost of electricity supply
- Ensure well-functioning gas markets
- Energy efficiency – delivering energy savings
- Complete the Energy Union
- Tripartite contract to ensure affordable energy for Europe’s industry
- Guarantee security of supply for price stability
- Price crisis preparedness
Beyond aiming to reduce energy costs, the Clean Industrial Deal also seeks to boost demand for clean products. An Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act will introduce “sustainability, resilience and Made in Europe” criteria in public and private procurements to increase demand for EU-made clean products. A voluntary carbon intensity label for industrial products will also be launched within the Act.
The deal will mobilise over €100 billion in funding for this EU-made clean manufacturing. A framework will be adopted, allowing for a more simplified and faster approval of state aid measures to roll out renewable energy, deploy industrial decarbonisation and ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity of clean tech.
Furthermore, the Commission will adopt a Circular Economy Act to accelerate the circular transition, create an EU Critical Raw Material Centre to jointly purchase raw materials, and set up a mechanism to enable European countries to come together and aggregate their demand for critical raw materials. It will also launch Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships to diversify supply chains and forge mutually beneficial deals.
Finally, a Union of Skills will be established to invest in workers, develop skills and create quality jobs.