Industrial Strategy

Since 2020, EU legislation has been focusing on targets, underpinned by exclusions or bans of some technologies and penalties, which gave signals as to the requirements, size, and shape of future markets. Such a framework does not favour investment decisions and impedes clear financial evaluations of how low-carbon products would increase above the value of today’s incumbent products.

This is why the “Net Zero Industry Act” was adopted in June 2024. FuelsEurope welcomes it in its aim of promoting the ramp-up of critical technologies and their deployment to help EU decarbonization objectives; it also praises its emphasis on industrial investments and competitiveness. This Regulation shows a renewed attention towards energy security, providing a possible response to new global challenges. With this perspective, FuelsEurope underlines that a system based on incentives and promoting the deployment of all renewable and low-carbon technologies would help the resilience of the EU industry, which, unfortunately, is facing a growing and dangerous trend of de-industrialization.

In July 2024, Ursula von der Leyen presented the Commission’s Political Guidelines for 2024-2029, in light of the current political climate and the composition of the European Parliament following the elections. The guidelines reflect the reality by completing the European Green Deal with the Clean Industrial Deal (CID). The CID aims to establish the competitiveness of the EU economy as a priority for the new legislature, which included a proposal for an Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act. The latter aimed to support industrial planning, permitting processes, and more for energy-intensive sectors by reducing red tape and admin burden.

FuelsEurope is actively contributing to these key initiatives, which will support our sector throughout the transition towards a climate-neutral EU by 2050.  In particular, the CID rightly recognises the need to move beyond traditional silo solutions and to adopt a comprehensive, value chain-wide strategy to ensure a thriving and competitive European industrial ecosystem. In that regard, FuelsEurope is actively calling for the recognition of the fuel manufacturing industry as a strategic sector to enable the transition, through its role of providing sustainable energy and feedstock to sectors across the industrial value chain.

The CID must safeguard the competitiveness, domestic jobs, and domestic production capacity of industries essential to Europe’s economy and climate goals. A competitive low-carbon transformation of the fuel manufacturing industry is possible and necessary. Therefore, investors need clear, long-term signals from EU institutions, through measures preventing carbon and investment leakage and de-industrialisation. As announced by the Commission’s Communication on the Clean Industrial Deal, the Commission will present a legislative proposal on the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act to help energy-intensive industries continue to decarbonise while maintaining their competitiveness internationally. The aim is to boost industries’ competitiveness and productivity, accelerate administrative procedures, and facilitate investments, including by creating lead markets for decarbonised products.

FuelsEurope welcomes this initiative: in a time when energy-intensive industries are already engaged in a low-carbon transition, competitiveness, productivity, acceleration of administrative procedures, facilitation of investments, including by creating lead markets for decarbonised products, is key to ensuring the EU is enabled to decarbonise without deindustrialising. To fully realise the objectives of the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act, we call on the Commission to adopt specific measures that will support the transition of the fuel manufacturing industry, upholding its recognition as a strategic sector.

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