Context
The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050 – an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and the EU's commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement. Building the industrial capacity for clean technologies is crucial for the transition to net-zero. The European Commission put forward on 1 February 2023 its Green Deal Industrial Plan to speed up the contribution of Europe’s innovative clean tech industries to meet the EU’s ambitious green targets. The Green Deal Industrial Plan covers four key pillars: the regulatory environment, financing, skills and trade and identifies batteries, wind and solar energy, heat pumps, electrolysers, and carbon capture and storage as key technologies to meet the EU climate neutrality goals. Within the first pillar, the Commission adopted on 16 March 2023 the Net-Zero Industry Act to help scale up net-zero technology manufacturing in the EU to provide at least 40% of the EU’s annual deployment needs for strategic net-zero technologies by 2030. On the same day, the Commission also adopted the European Critical Raw Material Act to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials for European industry. Increasing carbon prices have resulted in unprecedented high revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, which can also support the objectives of the Net-Zero Industry Act through the Innovation Fund and Modernisation Fund, however an increased participation of the Member States to these funds needs to be ensured.
Objectives
To support Member States with the implementation of the pillars of the Green Deal Industrial Plan and accelerate the contribution of Europe’s innovative clean tech industries to meet the EU’s ambitious green targets. This flagship will build on and expand the work under the TSI 2023 flagships providing support on industrial ecosystems and faster permitting for renewable energy.
Support Measures
Member States (i.e. national, regional and local authorities) may choose for technical support under the following [non-exhaustive] list of measures:
Work package 1 – Net-Zero Industry
- Assess and improve the national regulatory environment to reduce administrative burden (e.g. through one-stop shops) and accelerate and simplify permitting procedures for investments in manufacturing of net-zero technologies and for “Net-Zero Strategic Projects”.
- Support the introduction of sustainability and resilience criteria for net-zero technologies in public procurement or auctions.
- Support the identification of financing opportunities for net-zero technology projects and matching them with needs.
- Support the exchange of information and good practices, including with the Net-Zero Europe Platform.
- Support development and uptake of net-zero technologies in specific industrial ecosystems/sectors, e.g. mobility and transport, buildings, manufacturing, chemical, energy or else with horizontal or sectoral industrial strategies and/or action plans.
- Assess the barriers preventing the deployment of heat pumps in buildings, industrial and networks uses including the national regulatory environment, taxes, network tariffs and charges, public awareness, skills and workforce, and support the necessary reforms to reduce those barriers.
- Assess innovation barriers for preventing the use of renewable energy in energy-intensive industries.
- Support the setting-up of regulatory sandboxes to test innovative net-zero technologies and their production, to stimulate innovation under flexible regulatory conditions and raise awareness to encourage participation, including for SMEs.
- Increase the capacities of the public authorities, including for the take-up of funding for net-zero technologies (EU funding programmes such as the Innovation Fund, the Modernisation Fund, private finance, national funds, etc.).
Work package 2 – Critical Raw Materials (including strategic raw materials)
- Support to increasing circularity of the Critical Raw Materials value chains, including the recovery of Critical Raw Materials from waste.
- Support to identify and increase national capacities for extraction, processing, reusing and recycling of Critical Raw Materials, as well as monitoring the progress towards the benchmarks set in the Critical Raw Material Act.
- Assess and suggest improvements of the national regulatory environment, in particular for permitting and financing procedures for Critical Raw Materials projects across the cycle of extraction, processing, reusing and recycling, and to further simplify and accelerate permitting procedures for Strategic Projects.
- Support the identification, development and monitoring of sustainable and resilient supply chains for Critical Raw Materials and the coordination of stocks among Member States.
- Support environmental protection by improving the sustainability of Critical Raw Materials.
- Support to increase public engagement and acceptance.
- Support research and innovation to increase the technological maturity of recycling technologies for Critical Raw Materials and to promote materials efficiency and the substitution of Critical Raw Materials in applications, in view of a sustainable and secure supply of Critical Raw Materials.
- Increase the capacities of public administrations.
