The EU has introduced the Clean Industrial Deal to assist our industry’s competitiveness and resilience. The Agreement will expedite decarbonisation while ensuring Europe’s manufacturing future. The Deal presents decarbonisation as a key engine of growth.
The Deal primarily focusses on two closely related sectors: energy-intensive industry and renewable technology. Energy-intensive sectors demand immediate assistance to decarbonise and electrify. EU energy-intensive companies confront rising energy prices, worldwide competition, and complicated regulations, reducing their competitiveness. According to the strategy, Clean Tech is at the heart of future competitiveness and growth, as well as critical to industrial change. Circularity is also a key component of the Deal, with the goal of maximising EU resources and reducing reliance on third-country suppliers for raw materials.
The Commission approved an Action Plan for Affordable Energy to reduce energy costs for enterprises, companies, and homes. The Act would expedite the deployment of sustainable energy, increase electrification, complete our domestic energy market with physical links, utilise energy more effectively, and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.
The Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act would boost demand for EU-produced clean products by including sustainability, resilience, and made in Europe criteria into public and commercial procurements. In 2026, the Commission will review the Public Procurement Framework and add sustainability, resilience, and European preference criteria in public procurement for important sectors. The Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act would also provide an optional carbon intensity label for industrial items, beginning with steel in 2025, followed by cement. The Commission will simplify and harmonise carbon accounting methods. These labels will educate customers while also allowing corporations to profit from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
The Clean Industrial Deal will raise more than €100 billion to assist EU-made clean manufacturing. This figure includes €1 billion in new guarantees under the current Multiannual Financial Framework. The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group will also introduce a number of real new financial tools to assist the Clean Industrial Deal. The EIB will launch: i) a ‘Grids manufacturing package’ to provide counter-guarantees and other de-risking support to grid component manufacturers; ii) a joint European Commission-EIB pilot programme of counter-guarantees for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) entered into by SMEs and energy intensive industries; and iii) a CleanTech guarantee Facility under the Tech EU programme powered by Invest EU.
The Commission will also establish the first Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, which will diversify supply chains and form mutually beneficial agreements. Simultaneously, the Commission will safeguard its sectors from unfair global competition and overcapacity using a variety of Trade Defence and other tools. The Commission will simplify and enhance the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
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