The European Commission has unveiled a new proposal, the Net-Zero Industry Act, aimed at ramping up the production of clean technologies across the European Union (EU) to support the bloc's transition to clean energy.
The initiative was announced as part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, and will create better conditions for setting up net-zero projects in Europe while attracting investments.
According to an official release, the act will strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of net-zero technologies manufacturing in the EU, and make its energy system more secure and sustainable. The goal is to ensure that the EU's strategic net-zero technologies manufacturing capacity reaches at least 40% of the grouping's deployment needs by 2030. This is expected to accelerate the progress towards the EU's 2030 climate and energy targets and transition to climate neutrality, while creating quality jobs and boosting the competitiveness of EU industry.
The proposed legislation covers a range of technologies that will make a significant contribution to decarbonisation, including solar photovoltaic and thermal, onshore and offshore wind, batteries and storage, heat pumps, geothermal energy, electrolysers and fuel cells, biogas/biomethane, carbon capture, and sustainable alternative fuels technologies, among others.
The Net-Zero Industry Act is now set to be discussed and agreed by the European Parliament and the EU Council before its adoption and entry into force.