EUROPE, THE COUNCIL AND PARLIAMENT HAVE TODAY SIGNED A PROVISIONAL AGREEMENT ON THE REGULATION ESTABLISHING A FRAMEWORK OF MEASURES TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE NEUTRALITY, CALLED “NET ZERO INDUSTRY ACT”
Europeil To advise and the parliament today reached a provisional agreement on the regulation establishing a framework of measures to improve the respect for the ecosystem with the production of Net-Zero technologies, better known as “Net-Zero Industry Act” (Net-Zero Industry Act, NZIA).
The legislation aims to improve the industrial use of technologies Net zero necessary to achieve the EU’s climate goals, using the power of the internal market to strengthen European leadership in green industrial technologies.
“With the Net-Zero Industry Act, we want to support our industry on its transition path – he claims Yes BruinsMinister of Economy, Innovation, Labour, Social Economy and Agriculture, Flemish -. NZIA is an important step in creating the ecosystem needed to scale up the production of clean technologies. Europe has embarked on a path towards a cleaner and more sustainable future for European industry. This is the right time for Europe to take back the lead on the global clean technology scene and build a competitive, green and job-creating industrial sector.”
The industry’s contribution to climate neutrality
Under today’s agreement it will be created a unique list of Net-Zero technologies, with criteria to select strategic projects in terms of the technologies that will best contribute to decarbonization. L’ “Net-Zero Industry Act” aims to facilitate conditions for investments in green technologies, simplify licensing procedures and support strategic projects. It also proposes to facilitate market access for strategic technology products, improve the skills of the European workforce in these sectors (significantly through the launch of Net-Zero industrial academies) and create a platform to promote EU action in this sector to coordinate. For promote innovationproposes creating favorable regulatory frameworks for the development, testing and validation of innovative technologies (known as sandboxes).
Progress towards the goals of “Net-Zero Industry Act” will be measured appropriate standard, i.e. two reference indices. The first is to reach 40% of the production needed to cover the EU’s needs for strategic technological products. The other is the evolution, compared to global production, of products such as photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and heat pumps.
The proposal also sets out how specific objective is carbon neutralitythrough the carbon capture and storage (CO2)with an annual ‘injection’ capacity (i.e. permanent underground storage – ed.) of at least 50 million tons must be achieved by 2030.
Key elements of the agreement
The preliminary agreement supports key goals of the Net-Zero Industry Act proposed by the European Commission less than a year ago, while several improvements were made, such as simplified rules for the procedures for granting building permits, the creation of Net-Zero Industrial Districts and more clarity about the criteria for this government contracts and auctions.
Scopes and list of technologies
The new regulation aims to provide more favorable conditions and certainty to investors and promoters of Net-Zero technology production projects. Projects identified as having greater potential decarbonization will benefit from accelerated procedures for granting permits for construction or expansion and guidance in obtaining financing.
Faster licensing procedures
The term for granting a permit for the construction or expansion of large production projects of Net-Zero technologies (more than 1 gigawatt), as well as projects not measured in gigawatts, is up to 18 months. For smaller projects (less than 1 gigawatt), the permit granting period is 12 months. Shorter deadlines will be set for strategic projects. Furthermore, regardless of time constraints, the procedure will ensure that such projects are safe and secure environmentally sustainable and that they meet environmental, social and safety requirements.
Industrial valleys
Future regulations will encourage the development of “valley” (i.e. districts that concentrate several companies involved in a specific technology) of Net-Zero acceleration. The aim is to create Net-Zero clusters of industrial activities to increase the attractiveness of the EU as a location for manufacturing activities. In addition, to further simplify the administrative procedures for setting up Net-Zero production capabilities. The valleys will contribute to the re-industrialization of the regions.
Government procurement
The rules governing how public authorities will purchase goods, works and services related to strategic Net-Zero technologies are designed to better ensure that requirements are transparent, enforceable and harmonized. Therefore, the supply of such technologies to the EU is diversified, while providing contracting authorities with sufficient flexibility.
The law agreed today regulates the use of incentive schemes for the purchase of Net-Zero technology products and defines the contributions to sustainability and resilience in public procurement procedures. Contribution to environmental sustainability will be a mandatory minimum requirement.
While the resilience contribution will be applied if there is a dependence on third countries greater than 50% for a specific Net-Zero strategic technology (or for its components). This criterion will only be taken into account if the Commission has first assessed the degree of dependence of each technology on a specific third country.
If the application of the resilience and sustainability contribution leads to a disproportionate cost difference or if no appropriate offers or requests have been submitted, contracting authorities may decide not to apply these criteria.
Auctions for the distribution of renewable energy sources
The provisional agreement stipulates that when a Member State designs an auction for the deployment of renewable energy technologies, it can apply both prequalification criteria and award criteria not related to price, such as environmental sustainability, contribution to innovation or system integration. energy. These criteria will have to be applied to at least 30% of the volume auctioned annually per Member State. The Commission will establish the criteria for tenders and auctions and review the quantities auctioned in the light of an evaluation of the functioning of the system. The provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament must now be approved and formally adopted by both institutions.
The Net-Zero Industry Act is one of the three key legislative initiatives of the Green Deal Business Plan, together with the Critical Raw Materials Act and electricity market reform, to increase the competitiveness of the European Union’s Net-Zero industry and a rapid transition to climate neutrality.
In their conclusions of 26 and 27 October 2023, the Heads of State or Government called on the Council and the European Parliament to reach an early agreement on the Net-Zero Industry Act, with the aim of finalizing the new draft law by the end of 2023. the current legislative cycle. The Commission presented its proposal on March 16, 2023. The European Parliament adopted its position on 21 November 2023 and the Council its general approach on 7 December 2023.