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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
European Council approves Net Zero Industry Act
5/6/2024
The European Union’s (EU) 27 governments have approved the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). The move follows the European Parliament plenary vote in April and marks the final step of the process before publication and entry into force.
The NZIA aims to foster innovation by creating favourable conditions for investment in green technologies by simplifying the permit-granting process for strategic projects; facilitating market access for net zero technology products (in particular in public procurement or the auctioning of renewable energies); enhancing the skills of the European workforce in these sectors (with the benefit of net-zero industry academies and high-concentration industrial areas or ‘valleys’); and creating a platform to coordinate EU action in this area.
The Act calls for manufacturing capacity of net zero technologies, such as solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, batteries and heat pumps, to reach at least 40% of the EU’s deployment needs by 2030; with a view to these technologies reaching 15% of world production by 2040. It is also targeting annual carbon capture of at least 50mn tonnes of CO2 in geological storage sites located in the EU region by 2030.
The NZIA is one of the three key legislative initiatives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen says: ‘With the Net Zero Industry Act, the EU now has a regulatory environment that allows us to scale up clean technologies manufacturing quickly. The Act creates the best conditions for those sectors that are crucial for us to reach net zero by 2050. Demand is growing in Europe and globally, and we are now equipped to meet more of this demand with European supply.’
By boosting the EU domestic production of net zero technologies, the NZIA will reduce the risk that fossil fuel dependencies are replaced by technology dependencies on external actors.
Commenting on the NZIA’s approval by the European Council, Anett Ludwig, Head of Supply Chains at SolarPower Europe, says: ‘The importance of the Net Zero Industry Act for the European clean tech industry cannot be overstated and is demonstrated by its rapid negotiation and conclusion – few EU laws are introduced and agreed within a year. The implementation of the NZIA must now be as rapid as its adoption. It’s an essential piece of the industrial strategy puzzle.’
Click here to read more about the NZIA.
