“No more naivety, now the action“. This statement by the European Commissioner in charge of the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, summarizes the ambition of the European Commission in terms of clean technologies.
The institution presented two texts on Thursday to accelerate EU efforts in favor of green industry. The Commission is proposing a course for the coming decade to Member States and investors.
“With the “Net Zero Industry Act”, we aim to manufacture at least 40% of our deployment needs in Europe. Of course, we will continue to trade with our partners. Not everything will be made in Europe, but more should be“, specifies the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.
Some see the plan as a response to the US Inflation Reduction Act. For the Commission, the choice of Washington has only accelerated European thinking.
Wind and solar energy, heat pumps, batteries and nuclear power are among the industries which must lead the Union towards carbon neutrality and better control its dependencies.
To deploy these technologies, the Commission wants to facilitate administrative procedures in order to facilitate the implementation of projects.
Behind the climate project, environmental NGOs remain skeptical. For Domien Vangenechten, specialist in the decarbonization of industry for E3G, this plan is more a question of industry than of ecology.
“Rather, it is a competition policy, an economic policy or an industrial policy. It is obvious that it has a green element. We talk regarding the production capacity of technologies that are crucial for the net zero transition or the green transition, (but) I don’t see what the next step is“, he judges.
To complete this effort, the Commission also presented its proposals to secure access to critical raw materials. It proposes by 2030extract 10% of these resources on the continent and transform 40% of the Union’s needs. Finally, the institution wants to push for the diversification of suppliers because the 27 depend too heavily on a few third countries only.